Hyderabad: Photo expo takes visitors back in time

Hyderabad:The 10th edition of the Indian Photo Festival (IPF), inaugurated at the State Art Gallery here on Thursday, offers glimpses of a journey through time, memory, and culture.

Governor Jishnu Dev Varma opened the festival, highlighting the historical significance of photography in India by pointing to an image of his great-great-grandfather, Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya of Tripura. “One of the first cameras in India, in the late 1800s — one came to Hyderabad, another to Tripura,” he said. “This is the first time these images are being displayed in Hyderabad.”

Joining the Governor were tourism minister Jupally Krishna Rao, renowned National Geographic photographers Frans Lanting and Chris Rainier, curator and academic Sabina Gadihoke, and Amita Desai, director of Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad.

Festival director Acquin Mathews stated, “We live in a world inundated with images — millions are uploaded every second. This festival offers a platform to understand what good photography is and celebrate its potential to narrate stories across time and cultures.”

The festival showcases a blend of photojournalism and experimental photography, bridging historical and contemporary narratives.

Exhibitions include Shubhadeep Mukherjee's ‘Smells Like Home’, which uses mixed media to explore displacement and the lingering trauma of Partition, and Jaisingh Nageswaran's ‘The Land That is No More’, focusing on rural Tamil Nadu and its quiet stories of loss.

Krishna Rao invited visitors to explore Telangana through their cameras, from historical forts to serene natural landscapes. "Through your lenses, let the world discover Telangana's story," he said.

A notable exhibition, ‘Twin Sisters with Cameras’, curated by Sabina Gadihoke, showcases the overlooked works of twin sisters Debalina Mazumder and Manobina Roy. "Most works by women, especially domestic images, remain unseen. These were amateur but remarkable," Gadihoke explained. Manobina, married to celebrated filmmaker Bimal Roy, often saw her talent overshadowed by her husband's fame.

International photographers expressed enthusiasm for the festival. Frans Lanting shared his anticipation, while visual storyteller Chris Rainier commented on the enduring nature of photography: "Photographs from the late 1800s remind us of the timelessness of this medium. They link the past with the future, keeping memories alive for generations."

Governor Varma reflected on photography's contribution to human progress and its similarity to painting, an art form close to his heart. "Photography is more than capturing moments; it's an art that uses light to paint stories. I have tried my hand at it as a painter but found it more difficult than painting. I believe it showcases humanity's march towards progress," he said.