While most of the cinephiles were busy getting
soaked in the best of world cinema that was on offer
at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that
concluded recently, a bunch of extremely creative
artists had put their works on display at the Art Park
opposite Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) in Panjim.
Termed as ‘a celebration of visual communication’, The
One Fest Goa was held from November 21 to the early
morning of November 29. The festival was subdivided in
two – The Goa International Photo Festival, which was
a photography exhibition, and Goa Shots, a three-day
international short film festival.
According to the organisers, the idea behind the
photo festival was for students to be able to exhibit
images whilst being on the same platform as some of the
most established
and well known
international
photographers.
The exhibition
had a mix of
breathtaking
pictures from
multiple genres
of photography
such as
commercial,
documentary,
fine art,
advertising,
wildlife
and experimental, on display. Apart from masters of
photography and the students of The One School Goa,
the exhibition was thrown open to other photographers
through an open call where they could send their entries.
But most of the work that came in through this route did
not match the high standards set by the organising team
and except one, none of the photographers qualified.
The uniqueness of this art festival was that one could
partake in the visual treat of legendary photographer
Harry Gruyaert’s images of India that he shot while
travelling through the country, sharing space with the
works of budding talent from the current batch of
students of The One School Goa. Siddhanth Sheorey,
son of Shantanu Sheorey, who is one of the best
photographers India has produced and the Head of
The One School
Goa, is one of the
photographers to graduate from the first batch of the
institute about a year ago. He assisted the students in
setting up the exhibition. Siddhanth says, “The students
also get a chance to mingle and interact with all kinds
of photographers from around the world. That’s what
we wanted to create; we didn’t want it to be just an art
festival where the intellectual art community comes and
discusses what not everybody understands.”
Apart from serving as a platform for both established
and emerging photographers to display their art, The One
Fest Goa also gave the students a hands-on experience
of how an exhibition is set up. Everything right from
getting necessary permissions from the government, to
printing and mounting the photograph prints, was done
by the students of The One School Goa. Siddhanth adds,
“It is a great place for the students to understand not just
photography but how the world of visual communication
is just changing. At the festival, we had something
called as ‘Super Weekend’ where we brought all the
photographers, filmmakers and heads of advertising
agencies like JWT, Mudra, Taproot, etc who spoke to
the students and answered their questions. This kind of
access is really rare and that is what we’re trying to give
our students.”
The exhibition was open to the public and the
response that it enjoyed was good. Siddhanth, on a
parting note, says, “People have really spent time looking
at an image, instead of it being just a walkaround. They
try and understand what they can and I think that is
what digital photography has come to. It has become
a democracy of
