Kochi: NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, visual art expert from Kathmandu, Nepal, said family photo albums illustrate alternative histories. She was presenting a research paper titled Archive Building and Alternative Histories at The Age of the Photographer 2022, a day-long seminar organized by the Kerala State Lalit Kala Akademi, in association with Japan Foundation and Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, in Kochi on Saturday in connection with the culmination of Tohoku - Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers, a photography exhibition held at the Akademi's Durbar Hall Art Centre for past few days. She presented pages from the old family photo albums of Sasikala Sarma and Prathibha Suvedi, two of the senior journalists in Nepal to explain her point. Speaking on the Idea of Loss and Visual (Mis)representation, filmmaker R V Ramani said every photograph is a nail on the coffin of our past. Presenting her paper on Images in Translation, Sarasija Subramanian from Reliable Copy said the stress on the visual being essential to publishing has been one that has guided us, as images play a key role in not only the circulation of information but also in the collections and sourcing of information from different histories and geographies.
Other papers were presented by Anita Khemka of MurthyNayak Foundation/PhotoSouthAsia on Photography: Education Expression and Rahaab Allana on Patronage, Pedagogy and Other Forms of Support. The seminar was curated by Meena Vari, Dean, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. Speaking on the occasion, Murali Cheeroth, Chairman, Kerala Lalithakal Akademi said that the cultural body was committed to holding cultural and social interactions and programs with like-minded bodies in India and abroad and Tohoku - Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers was a beginning of such exchange programs. Akademi is in the final stages of discussions to host a couple of such events, he said.
