Corona and livelihood problems are evident in Fajr Festival photos / Photographers’ weakness in writing statements

Fars News Agency – Art Group: Photography is becoming more and more popular in today’s world with the advancement of technology and availability. But despite this expansion among the people and the unimaginable accumulation of photos published on social media and networks, art and documentary photography and various types of professional photography, it still retains its position and with the possession of the most advanced cameras, the need for training and photographic vision. It is necessary to make and pay for a photo.

Despite all these advances and the expansion in the quantity of photographs, photo festivals, both private and public, have increased in the world. Some festivals are monolingual and have the subject of photography, and even in photography, they specify a specific branch to submit the work. But there are festivals that cover a variety of media, of which photography is a part.

Among the many festivals held in our country, Fajr Visual Arts Festival For a number of reasons, it is important for the community of photographers, both professionally and photographers, to consider photography as a mere work of art. It is important both in terms of the generality and universality of the festival and because it is held with a free theme alongside other media and can have the status of an annual art festival.

For the past 14 years, the second half of the year has been one of the activities of artists interested in participating in festivals, attending the Fajr Festival of Visual Arts. The photo section of the Fajr Visual Arts Festival is also one of the most popular sections and the number of submitted works and their quality has been the subject of discussion. The numerous arguments that arise between the judges for accepting or rejecting a set of photographs turn into a photographic show.

The photo section of the 14th Fajr Visual Arts Festival was no exception to this rule, and Karim Mottaqi, Farhad Soleimani and Majid Naghei, along with the section’s secretary, Mohammad Mehdi Rahimian, saw more than 2,000 photos and commented on which ones were in the festival and which ones were not.

* Photo collections surpassed single photos

Karim Mottaghi, a photographer and translator, told Fars about the works received at the festival: “From the total of single photos and the collection of photos we selected to enter the exhibition, it should be said that these photos are not all of Iran’s photography capacity and may be in the form of natural festivals.” Is that a festival can gather all the photography capacity of the country.

Farhad Soleimani, another judge of the photo section of the festival, believes in this regard: the collections were stronger in the submitted works. When you focus on a subject and express its various dimensions with a few successful photos, it is naturally better than a single photo, and in the collection of photos, the photographer’s authorial role and narration are more than the subject. I think the photographers were more successful in the collection. Maybe we could direct the photographers by calling them so that the collections would be even better. For this reason, sometimes we did not see the necessary coherence in the collections, and because the subject was free, it made this judgment difficult, and when the subject is free, you specify several approaches to select and judge, and say that this photo is art and the other is documentary and Or it is a collection and it is difficult to judge a single photo and between them.

The third judge was Majid Naghegi, who said about the works he had seen in the selection session: “We saw some professional works in the works received at the festival.” Of course, I have to say that we had problems with calling. We were able to guide the applicants in the call and this was very effective in the quality of the festival.

* The domination of sadness is evident in the received photos

There is another issue that is related to the outside of the festival that can not be ignored, that is, all the social and external aspects that affect society and art. The issue of the quality of the photos is very important for every festival and every judge who selects them, and in a sense it is credible. The judges expressed their views on the quality of the works received at the festival. In this regard, Mottaqi said: “In terms of quality, naturally, every institution that holds the festival and every judge who judges wants the right photos to be selected and displayed.” From the photos that reached the secretariat, we selected the best ones, which, of course, were also the result of the votes of 3 people, which was done with great care and challenge.

Read Farhad Soleimani’s opinion about the atmosphere of the works, who said: “The photos that came to the festival, because the atmosphere of sadness prevails over the works, we can see the traces of today’s life with all the hardships of Corona and people’s livelihood.” But if we do a little research, we can draw other spaces that show a more realistic atmosphere of society.

Majid suddenly said after seeing the works: Naturally, the collections were stronger than the single photos. In general, we have to go through one photo and get to the collection at festivals. There are many reasons. Accurate judgment of the photographer’s work takes place in the collection, and the photographer’s gaze and narration take place in the collection. We were dealing with photographers who had some academic experience and some personal experience. But what we expect at this festival level is the proper use of these experiences on a professional scale. And we tried to select items that had a standard slate, and we had a lot of rigor and challenge in the selection.

* Most artists do not know how to write a statement

In recent years, one of the challenges for artists has been writing statements and arranging and presenting works of art for the festival. In this selection session, this issue was also quite visible. Mottaki said: “One of the issues we had in the elections was the issue of artists’ statements.” This weakness, of course, pervades all art, and artists do not know how to write a statement. Some of the work was very good, but with a poor presentation of the work, it was flawed, and vice versa, we saw that a not so strong collection with a strong text was well displayed. Another important point was the arrangement of the photos in the collections. Unfortunately, in universities and colleges, photographers do not see the course to know how to compile a collection of photographs and how to show the narrative sense of the collection.

He said: “In the works received at the festival, the collections were dominant in every way.” But in the single photos, sometimes the artist wrote a caption that suspended the photo. We used to describe more in the captions. The photographer wrote what was in the photo and we did not read anything beyond the photo frame in the texts.

* Good ideas that are poor in execution

Farhad Soleimani also believes in this regard: Many of those who have participated in the festival are not necessarily educated in photography or art. They have come from other spaces and good collections have also worked. They have good ideas, but because they did not have a mastery of photography, they did not make a good choice, and perhaps by removing one or two photos from the collection, their work could be selected for the festival. And I still regret why some of the works with very good ideas had poor performances.

In the end, Majid suddenly pointed to the status of the festival and that the festival should be the result of last year’s art and said: “Festivals are not necessarily the result of the photography community and even the Iranian community and should not have such a purpose and claim.” On the other hand, because the subject and approach are free, we do not encounter a professional form of work. The specific theme and approach of a festival can help both the artist and the judges to present the exhibition in a professional and artistic way.

He continued: “On the other hand, because we have not had biennials and big competitions for a long time, and we have a big, correct and accurate process in the field of photography competitions, the burden of all this falls on the Fajr Festival.” The Fajr Festival, neither in policy nor in implementation, can not be responsible for such a thing that we see all the approaches and formats in the field of photography of the Fajr Festival. In fact, the Fajr complex can not cover all the shortcomings. We are in a difficult situation right now. Both for the art community and for the organizer. The art community has expectations from institutions such as the festival that are not met elsewhere, and in these circumstances the festival can not meet all these expectations. But these expectations inadvertently fall on the shoulders of the Fajr Festival. We have to be crooked in order to achieve stability.

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