A thousand words per frame

New Delhi: Opening on October 30 at the IGNCA, the third edition of the Delhi Photo Festival is set to show striking images from a range of photographers-national, international and even students of the craft-in over 40 exhibits. Other art galleries in the city will also have collateral shows as part of fest that ends on November 8. Here are some of the exhibits you shouldn't miss:
The Album - Family and Friends: Raghu Rai
With over five decades of work, Raghu Rai is almost synonymous with Indian photography.His numerous books on India and legendary frames from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy have made him a household name, but his personal life has never been put on display. Until now. 'The Album' will host about 70 never-before-seen portraits from Rai that frame his family members and close friends.
Although Rai was initially reluctant to hold a public exhibit of these pictures when first approached by festival director Prashant Panjiar, he eventually came around. "I discovered some very tender moments when going through my past pictures," says Rai. "If it were someone else's family, I'd exhibit them- that was the thought."
Love Me Or Kill Me: Sarker Protick
A photographer and lecturer in Bangladesh, Sarker Protick was working on a different photo series when he visited a set of a Dhallywood film for a picture. He was instantly hooked. "The plot of any Dhallywood film is always the same - good guy, bad guy, the girl and revenge... But everything else is exaggerated - the emotions, the colourful sets, the acting. It is so far from reality that I decided to do a separate series on it," says Protick.
The name of the exhibit comes from the title of a Dhallywood film and is symbolic of the extreme emotions that define the film industry of Bangladesh and its faithful audience, says Protick.
In The Bag For North: Emanuele Satolli
How do you depict something like illegal migration without the clichéd frames of people jumping onto trains or crossing rivers? That was the question that led Italian-origin Emanuele Satolli to the idea behind this unique set of portraits of Central American immigrants who enter Mexico illegally. The pictures lay out the items these people carry in their bags on their long, gruelling journeys. "I was surprised to find a lot of personal care products, like soaps and deodorants. It's not what you expect to find in the bag of someone who is about to cross the desert," says Satolli, who lived in Guatemala for a year in 2007 and discovered that almost everyone there was affected by migration.
Photo-poetry: Ecstasies and other Teresian visions
Apart from the print exhibits, this edition of DPF will also host performances and picture projections. One of these collaborations brings poetry, photography, and dance together. Photographers Avani Tanya and Gayatri Ganju have translated the poems of mystic writer Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, into pictures.
The projection of these photographs, some from Ladakh, will accompany a reading of her poems. Choreographer Diniz Sanchez of Portugal has also weaved the same poetry in the fabric of her dance.