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A Portfolio on life

Strong social messages and good compositional skill constituted most of the works at Portfolio 2007, a photo exhibition by the Kochi Photojournalists' Forum

THOUGHT- PROVOKING Though common day images from daily life the exhibits left one pondering

Malayalis, it has been noted, is one of the world's most newspaper-reading communities. Little wonder then, a photographic exhibition by the photojournalists of the city becomes a crowd puller, quite like a Christmas-release blockbuster. The crowd, with women, men and children seemed to share the passion of 38 enthusiastic photojournalists when they thronged around in the Contemporary Art Gallery.

The common man's stories through the lens, a reflection of everyday in the life of a Malayali, were brought to the audience in Portfolio 2007, which was held in the city recently The Kochi Photojournalists' Forum, a network of all the photo and visual journalists has been organising collective shows annually for the past five years. Says B. Murali Krishnan, photojournalist of Mathrubhoomi, "We also had a show of visual media for the past two years, in which the visual journalists exhibit short stories in video format." Twenty visual journalists of various channels were also part of this endeavour.

News pictures

Strong social messages, good compositional skill and relevance of the subject make for a good news picture, which constituted most of the work exhibited. Some contained dark suicide stories, while some others brought smiles to faces with a hint of humour and sarcasm.

The year 2006 had been quite eventful for Kerala. The change of government, the rise of the Kochi lad Sreesanth, the Sabrimala priest issue and other sex scandals, farmer suicides, custodial deaths, various protests including the one against the speed governors and a line up of other big and small events.

Perfect Protest, a photograph by Bimal Thampi of Madhyamam shows an old woman protesting by blocking the bus demanding rehabilitation, while Arun Chandrabose has caught a light moment with Rain Rain Go Away, where a group of girls, all dressed up for Aranamula Uthratadhi Jalotsavam and crossing the river hold up a vinyl sheet to protect themselves.

Another photograph that most would relate to is Journey Between Llife and death by Ranjith Balan of Mangalam, where a young man precariously hangs on the footboard of a local bus.

Powerful pictures

Striking and thought provoking were the photographs of Johny Thomas from Veekshanam and Prakash Elamakkara from Tetco Times. Both showed the plight of the homeless in the city.

Aesthetically appealing was Sivaram's photograph Bound By Flames depicting a Kalaripayatu artist weaving web of fire.

"We hardly have any time to share or discuss new equipment or any other matters of interest, because of our untimely and busy schedules. But we are glad that we are able to meet and come on a common platform once a year at least," adds Murali, who was very glad to note that the show attracted men and women alike.

DIPTI DESAI

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