Singapore hostels
Scheduled to take place from 8 to 31 October 2008, “The Singapore International Photography Festival” is the first event of its kind in Southeast Asia.This biennial festival strives to provide a platform for Southeast Asian artists to showcase their works alongside their international peers at various venues across Singapore.
In a world dominated by images, photography is something we tend to take for granted, especially when seemingly every teenager can click away with their mobile phone.
The four curators from Singapore, China and Thailand,selected images from more than 6,800 submissions.
The result?
Some 800 works by 66 photographers from 26 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. And these numbers refer just to the exhibitions.
Interested participants can also attend a series of public lectures and satellite events, including an exhibition of work by photographers from the renowned Magnum co-operative.
If you’re feeling lost in the face of so many options, start by checking out the work of Australian-born, Paris- based Vee Speers, whose seemingly innocent portraits of children unnerve viewers with their subjects’ unsettling disregard for societal expectations. On a more musical note, don’t miss out on an exhibit by TOS photo editor Lester Ledesma from the Philippines, whose two-month-long project documents the devotion of Singapore’s Elvis Presley impersonators in all their bedazzled glory.
Some 50 lucky photographers from South-East Asia will also get the opportunity to have their portfolios critiqued technically and contextually by professional photographers, curators, buyers and editors from Asia, Europe and the United States.
It’s a two-way street – while the artists get feedback, the event organisers can uncover, foster and propel new talent onto the world stage.
So, enjoy Asia pics.
