Photography SIPF

SIPF

Singapore International Photography Festival is held annually in Singapore in several different locations and it's showcasing photographs by chosen photographer from around the world. This year is my first time visiting the SIPF and I visited 3 places (Deck, National Museum of Singapore and Chapel Gallery)

There are a lot of very interesting photographs in the exhibitions. Some of my favorites are "Declared Detachment" by Russian photographer, Mariya Kozhanova, "Leave your Myth in Greece" by Greek photographer, Panos Kokkinias and "Trace of Time" by Singaporean photographer, Carrie Lam. There are a lot more photographs that I love but the list will be too long.

Declared Detachment is telling a story about society and environment in Russia. The series are trying to portray how the children or young generation that were born in the time of a society that is very structured that they lost their identity and individuality. Her series are about Russians who cosplay to run away from reality and turn to become anime heroes influenced by Japanese mass-culture of cosplay. It's a very interesting series with a deep story behind it. Her lighting and locations chosen were very well composed and well used. Her works are mounted without frame in the (NMS) National Museum of Singapore.

Leave your Myth in Greece is one of my favorites series. The photos are wide shot photos about landscapes in Greece. It's very beautiful and the use of colors makes the photos even more stunning. From his series, human figures are being juxtaposed with the proportions of nature surrounding it. It's creating the feeling of alienation since the people are portrayed to have almost no contact with the rest of the world.  The photos are mounted in landscapes format without frame on black partition. They can be found on the second floor in NMS.

The last is Trace of Time by Carrie Lam. Her series of Trace of Time is very interesting and intriguing. It's about the relationship of a mother and daughter. In her picture, she put herself in the same situations as her mother. She is trying to understand what her mother would have felt when she shot that picture 20 years earlier. She combined 3 different photos together into one making a one long photo and framed them on a plain black frame. I think the reason she put 3 photos into one picture is to give the feeling of transition and progression of time. The same place but on the left photo is her mother 20 years ago while on the right photo is herself now, and the middle photo act as the separation and transition. Her works are display in NMS.