OBSCURA Festival 2013 – Malaysia

Malaysia – 

OBSCURA Festival is the biggest photography festival in Malaysia to date. The festival is a celebration of our Asian identity in an increasingly globalising world. This year OBSCURA Festival hosts 11 photography exhibitions, 7 curated slideshows and a series of talks by some of the world’s most prominent photographers and curators.

The objective of the festival is multifold. The festival’s main aim is to promote education, exchange and culture. Therefore much of the festival’s activities revolve around these aspects through workshops, exhibitions, dialogue, sharing and knowledge and skill exchange.

Audacity of Beauty, Maggie Steber, US

Photography Exhibitions

These photography exhibitions are a celebration of our humanity in an ever-changing world.

The ‘Masters Series’ include works by National Geographic photographer Maggie Steber, Agence Vu’s Ian Teh, World Press Photo laureate, Pablo Bartholomew, fine art photographer Yanming and one of the Asia’s most prolific street photographers, Malaysia’s very own Che Ahmad Azhar.

The ‘Asia by Asians’ exhibitions feature some of the finest young Asian photographers, including Jannatul Mawa (BGD), Rony Zakaria (INA), Bharat Choudhary (IND), Suzanne Lee (MAS), Sanjit Das (IND) and Andri Tambunan (USA).

Close Distance, Jannatul Mawa, Bangladesh

Slide Shows

One feature of this festival is the curated photography slide shows that happen almost every night throughout the festival. These slide shows have been specially curated for OBSCURA Festival by an esteemed panel of curators.

Feature slide shows include ‘Curating Fukushima’ by Yumi Goto (JPN), ‘Contemporary Chinese Photography’ by Wangxi (CHN) and ‘Asia by Asians’ by the OBSCURA 2013 curators. There will be additional works by curators from Australia, the UK and Malaysia.

These are among a host of other shows that will be presented. You will be treated to works of over 300 photographers from Asia and various parts of the world.

Dark Clouds – Life in China’s industrial coal cities, Ian Teh, UK

Workshops

One of the most important components of OBSCURA Festival is the Workshops. The tutors for the 2013 workshops include Maggie Steber (USA), Ian Teh (UK), Justin Mott (USA), Che Ahmad Azhar (MAS) and Sanjit Das (IND). These workshops cater for young photographers and professionals. This is a rare opportunity for photographers to learn from and work with some of the world’s best photographers to develop their own individual style, voice and take their photography mastery to the next level.

Islam of Ural, Sergey Poteryaev & Fyodor, Russia

Talks and other Activities

There will be a host of talks by photographers, curators and industry experts throughout OBSCURA 2013. We will also be running community projects such as free photography talks and workshops. These programs which will be announced closer to the date of the festival.

Walk of Life, Che Ahmad Azhar, Malaysia

Venue

OBSCURA Festival will be held in various locations in Georgetown, Penang.

Dates

OBSCURA Festival will run for 10 days, from 21 – 30 June 2013. The Workshops will run from 24 – 29 June 2013.

For more information, visit – OBSCURA Festival

Feature Image – UK. London. 2011. Iythar, an Egyptian-British fine artist, paints at her studio. One of her paintings [top-left] is titled, ‘The Way Sarkozy Intended It’. She said, ‘It is an interpretation of the burqa ban in France. It shows how the ban takes away the voice and identity of Muslim women, leaving them speechless and incomplete’.
The Silence of others, Bharat Choudhury