ICP co-organized Image Worlds: Hybridity, a two-day symposium held in New Delhi, India, alongside The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts and PhotoSouthAsia, Offset Projects, Aperture, and Maze Collective, among other institutions. It was held at the India International Center, and saw participation from photographers, researchers, curators, and practitioners from around the world including India, France, USA, Nepal, UAE, and the UK.
The symposium marked the bicentennial of photography and traced its origins from the 10th century ‘qamra’ (moonlit chamber) to the myriad ways photography now permeates artistic practices, genealogies and paradigms.
Per Gylfe, Director of Education at ICP, moderated a discussion with photographer Yumna Al-Arashi, about her practice and ongoing project, Proposal for a War Memorial. Al-Arashi set up a participatory booth for attendees to provide initial sketches for the project. Gylfe and Al-Arashi discussed what it means to reflect on memory, conflict, and photography’s enduring role in shaping history.
The panels addressed critical questions at the intersection of photography research and practice, namely: How does photography bridge pre- and post-colonial narratives? How does it frame biological, linguistic, racial, and historical perspectives? What overlaps and fusions emerge between East and West through artistic practice? What new paradigms will define visual culture? Panelists particularly discussed how cross-cultural exchange has evolved, and the various ways in which the binary has been re-evaluated over time to counter Orientalist frameworks and Western-centric discourse.
At a connected event held at the British Council, Rahaab Allana, curator and publisher, The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts, offered provocations around the recent student protests in New Delhi, while bringing into focus the heightened importance of the institution, curators and artists in this political moment. Duncan Forbes, Head of the Photography, V&A Museum, talked about the growing footprint of V&A’s photo department, at the South Kensington venue and the newly opened V&A East in East London.
“It’s been a tremendous event, with enormous amounts of information through panels and artist presentations," Gylfe said. "There have been so many opportunities for networking and discussion, and we are delighted to connect with our ICP alumni and extended community in India in various ways.”
Also in attendance were Vasant Nayak, Founder, PhotoSouthAsia and the MurthyNAYAK Foundation, and ICP alumni Alina Tiphagne (Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism ‘19) Smita Sharma (Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism ‘13), and ICP Faculty Tanvi Mishra.