GEORGE TOWN, Aug 19 — It is an exploration of space and the present. It is also about humans interacting with their surroundings over a three-year period.
Photographer Arko Datto’s world debut of What News of the Snake that Lost its Heart in the Fire is a showcase of his philosophical and eccentric view of how humans interact and exist in the space they occupy.
“My exhibition sums up where Penang stands now, how its surroundings is now being inundated with development and how the people struggle in a type of limbo,” he said in an interview with Malay Mail Online.
The exhibition, under Obscura Festival, showcases about 97 of Datto’s work, a huge portion of which are arranged in a grid that covers entire sections of the wall.
Most are of candid moments captured all around Penang, be it a drunk passed out on the floor or that of rays of the sunset casting orange reflections on a section of a wall, that feature two main themes, that of the snake and fire.
“All these are taken at night, it’s in such moments, the crisis of continual change becomes very pronounced and as I walk around, I find characters and people being caught up in the tension of these changes,” he said.
Datto took most of the photographs during his three-month stay here, between February and April, under the Hotel Penaga Artist Residency programme in collaboration with Obscura Festival.
“I have also included photos I’ve taken in the past three years ever since I first came here for the festival… I have been back for the festival each year,” he said.
The exhibition, at 145 Victoria Street, is open to the public daily between 10am to 6pm.
Datto’s exhibition is one of a total of 11 photography exhibitions being showcased between August 19 and August 31, featuring works by about 57 photographers from around the world.
The exhibitions are held at several different locations, namely at Hin Bus Depot, Whiteaways Arcade and China House, and are open and free to the public.
Find out more about photography events under the festival at obscurafestival.com. Obscura Festival is part of the month-long George Town Festival (GTF).
Find out more about GTF at georgetownfestival.com.
