Hornbill Festival Day-5: Telling stories through photography

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Dec. 5 (EMN): From telling stories of HOME to stories of Jerusalem, photo exhibitions took centre stage on day-5 of the ongoing Hornbill Festival at Kisama and Kohima.

A photograph exhibition called HOME by a group of four independent professional photographers — Zhazo Miachieo, Rajat Limbu, Albert Rutsa, and Seyie Sohou – tells stories of locals, their everyday life and the society.

Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations, Siwatho S Nyusou, opened the exhibition at Box cutting foot path, Kohima, on Monday.

Zhazo Miachieo, one of the four photographers, said that HOME is a photographic exhibition about life, society, and humans.

‘It is named HOME to show how each photographer explores and tells about the figures that make a home in their lives, in their photos, in their imagination, and in their hope and sadness,’ he said.

Photography exhibitions have been going on since the inception of art but it is new in Nagaland, he added.

‘It was challenging to put up the exhibition as it was self-funded and we did not know how the crowd would respond,’ he said while expressing hope that visitors would come and see their works, how they tell local stories and interact with the world and surroundings.

He further informed that the first edition was held in 2019 and was received well. But, it could not be organised in the last two years due to the COVID pandemic.

Sohou is an award-winning photographer specialised in documentary photography; Rutsa is an independent photographer whose works mainly focuses on culture and tradition of the Nagas and how it interacts with the development and advancement of technology and lifestyle; Limbu, a street photographer has the knack of capturing beautiful images out of the mundane life, the things that one sees everyday; while Miachieo’s works are about his aunt and uncle, the life they shared together as married couple, overcoming the obstacles by keeping love as the centrepiece.

Addressing the opening of the exhibition, Siwatho S Nyusou, said that photography has become very important these days.

‘It has grown in leaps and bounds as everybody has smartphones and takes photos anywhere and everywhere. However, photos taken by the professionals, some of them stand out and speaks volumes. They speak about the feelings of the people, their intentions, their heart and mind,’ he said.

Limbu said that his work is mainly about documenting Kohima for what it is.

“There is no extra explanation here. What you see is what I take pictures for — moments, people in the street — because Kohima will not be the same. I have this believe that one day all these images will be helpful to the people,” he added.

Jerusalem through Indian lens

In another photo exhibition, the Task Force for Music and Arts (TaFMA) in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel in India presented ‘Jerusalem; Transcending Jerusalem through Indian lenses’, which was opened for the public at Bamboo hall, Kisama on Monday.

Speaking about the exhibition, Abu Metha, advisor to the chief minister, said the exhibition is a significant as it highlights the partnership between the government of Nagaland, Naga people and government of Israel through the Embassy of Israel in India.

‘Jerusalem is one the world’s most historic locations, if not the most historic. The oldest religions of earth started from Jerusalem. Even from Nagaland, hundreds and thousands of people visit Jerusalem as part of the holy pilgrimage,’ he said.

‘The present day government has a special flagship programme for holy land visit and holy pilgrimage which is fully supported and sponsored by the state government. Citizens, church leaders, representatives of the church councils are availing this facility to visit the land,’ he informed.

He went on to add that several other programmes have been taken up, one of which is the photography exhibition of Jerusalem through the Indian lens, and another is a band from Israel performing in the Hornbill festival.

The advisor also said that Hornbill Festival has reached this far because of the contributions and sacrifices made by all.

“It is not a festival where we worship the hornbill. It is not a festival where we glorify the bird. But it is Nagaland’s top flagship programme in tourism promotion,” he said.

Advisor TaFMA, Theja Meru and Project Director, TaFMA, Dr. Hovithal Sothu were also present at the exhibition. Earlier, Rev. KN Kele, director of CRMT, ABCC prayed and declared open the exhibition.