Four winners selected from a range of applicants for the the first Habitat Photosphere award are set to create a body of work that focus on the theme of sustainable development.
The winners Harikrishna Katragadda, Monica Tiwari, Shraddha Borawake and K R Sunil are now tasked with creating works on sustainability that will be exhibited at the India Habitat Centre at a month long outdoor exhibition this December.
An eminent jury comprising of practicing and eminent photographers - Bandeep Singh, Parthiv Shah, Aditya Arya and Prabir Purkayastha - chose the winners, each of whom is set to be awarded a monetary grant of Rs 2 lakh.
The award is part of a year-long photography festival titled Habitat Photosphere initiated by IHC and curated and conceptualised by the art historian Alka Pande.
The show will be supplemented with an book titled 'Panchatattava' which will also serve as a catalogue for the exhibition, organisers said.
Each of the four photographers would be mentored through the next eight months by Aditya Arya, Bandeep Singh, Prabir Purkayastha and Parthiv Shah.
Says Parthiv Shah, who will be mentoring Harikrishna Katragadda, "The role of the mentor will be to channelise their thinking and energies on the broad theme of environmental damage, restoration and preservation. Beyond the award, this exposure would help in creating a long term commitment on using photography for environmental education and protection."
Bandeep Singh, who will mentor Monica Tiwari says,"While some applications were very technique-savvy, other scored on content. The winning applicants, of course, scored highly on all our parameters - style, execution and concept.
Prabir Purkayastha, who will be mentoring Shraddha
Borawake says, "We were impressed by the fact that Shraddha has gone beyond the visual language of photography and works in a transmedial way using photography as a central point creating two and three dimensional works. We want to encourage new languages in photography through this festival and that is where she scored."
K R Sunil is set to be mentored by Aditya Arya.
"Sunil unanimously wowed the jury with his honest work tinged with an unadulterated innocence," says Arya.
Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) representative Tulika Srivastava and Alka Pande, Artistic Director, Habitat Photosphere also gave their opinions and views during the selection process.
For the exhibition slated in December 2016, Katragadda plans to travel to the cities and towns along the Ganges, with have high concentration of leather and metal industries, and the burning ghats of Benaras.
"I am interested in portraits of people, animals and various life forms affected by pollution. The aim is to pollute the photographic image like the landscape it represents," he says.
Monica Tiwari aims to document the lifestyle changes caused due to migration.
"My project aims to focus on the challenging, uncertain, and heartbreaking journeys undertaken by the parents who migrate, and especially focusing on the children and the elderly who are left behind in their native lands," she says.
Shraddha Borawake will be working towards an installation-based project while Sunil aims to document the fast-disappearing ponds in various parts of Kerala.
Habitat Photosphere awards have been supported by Future Institute, Tarun Khiwal, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd, Aim Television, PSBT, Bank Of Maharashtra, Picsdream and Foundation of Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama (FUR).
