| Month of Photography Asia | |
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Generic logo since 2009 |
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| Website | http://www.mopasia.com.sg |
Month of Photography Asia (also known as MOPA and MOPAsia) is an international festival of photography organised in Singapore since 2002.
The festival serves as a platform to promote photography both as an art form and as a creative industry. Each year, Month of Photography Asia is curated along a specific theme and presents works by the best of international and Singaporean photographers in relation to the year’s theme. The theme for 2011 was Memory.
Over the years, the festival has become the annual photography event in Singapore to discover exciting new images, impactful photographs, as well as classic images that have become part of the history of photography. It has also become a known platform for the discovery of emerging Singaporean or Singapore-based photographers through its Out of Focus group shows, as well as for the recognition of established photographers from Singapore with a prominent body of works through the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu photography award. The festival's main line-up of exhibitions is complemented by both public programmes (which include round tables, master classes, talks, portfolio reviews, screenings, tours and workshops) and in conjunction events.
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The festival was first established in 2002 as the Month of Photography in Singapore, on a joint initiative by the Alliance Française de Singapour and the National Arts Council. It was inaugurated in presence of Jean-Luc Monterosso, director of the European House of Photography (Maison Européenne de la Photographie, a.k.a. MEP. Phish Communications was brought in by the Alliance Française to manage the 2003 edition of the festival, called "A Journey towards month of Photography 2004", as it was intended as a bridge to the larger festival edition planned for the next year. Phish Communications managed it again in 2004, before becoming the full-fledged festival organiser in 2006. In 2007, the festival took the name of Month of Photography Asia (known as MOPA or MOPAsia), thus acknowledging its role as a regional platform in Asia.
From 2004 onwards, a curatorial theme was introduced to provide the backbone of each edition of the festival:
In 2006, the festival started a series of group shows called Out of Focus dedicated to emerging Singaporean or Singapore-based photographers who have not had a solo show yet. The first edition of Out of Focus was curated by established Singaporean photographer Tay Kay Chin. Subsequent editions in 2007, 2008 and 2009 were curated by Objectifs: Centre for Photography and Filmmaking, which became one of MOPAsia's most regular partners.
In 2008, the festival initiated an artist residency programme in partnership with Lasalle College of the Arts, with the support of the French Embassy. Alain Fleischer was the first photograph in residency in 2008, followed by Françoise Huguier in 2009.
In 2009, the festival included a new component to its line-up of exhibitions: InsideOut, a project that aims to allow the audience to see Singapore through the eyes of migrant workers to foster mutual understanding. First launched in 2006 in conjunction with the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, the project was revived again in the 2009 edition of MOPAsia as InsideOut II [4] and continued with its third installment in 2010 as InsideOut III.[5] Volunteer photographers guided migrant workers on using photography to document their daily lives, meeting once a week over three months for lessons and guided field shoots. Armed with basic digital cameras, the participating migrant workers embraced the opportunity to show a slice of their lives and Singapore from their perspective. Such images created a platform for creative dialogue in order to humanize the perception of migrant workers in Singapore.
In 2010, the festival included as part of its programme the newly created ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu photography award. This juried prize established by Martell Cordon Bleu in conjunction with the Month of Photography Asia is aimed at recognizing the most outstanding photographer in Singapore who has shown originality of vision, presented thought-provoking ideas, explored new concepts and demonstrated a commitment to his/her art through the use of the photographic medium. It honours the totality of the artist’s body of work and his or her art practice. A total of thirteen photographers were nominated at the first stage of the competition. From among the thirteen, three have been selected by the award’s international jury to proceed to the final stage. The three photographers were Francis Ng, Jing Quek and Sherman Ong. All three photographers had solo exhibitions of their selected works held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lasalle College of the Arts. On 17 June 2010, a jury of local and international judges (including Martin Parr and Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr) convened to determine the winner ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu award. Sherman Ong was announced the winner of the inaugural ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu at the opening of the exhibitions on 17 June. The award consisted of a cash prize of $30,000 as well as an art book of the artist’s works to be published within the year of winning the award.[6][7][8] In 2011, the profile exhibition was held at Millenia Walk and presented a selection of eight photographers nominated at the first stage of the competition. Out of these contenders, three photographers (Sean Lee, Zhao Renhui and John Clang) were selected to the final stage of the competition, ending with the prize to be awarded to Sean Lee on 1 July 2011, as part of the festival.
The festival has consistently hosted international guests from all over the world, either for an exhibition, a talk or a residency:
The festival has seen the involvement of Singaporean and Singapore-based photographers and industry professionals like:
The Out of Focus exhibition series, created in 2006, has helped put the limelight on emerging Singaporean or Singapore-based photographers:
The festival has worked in close collaboration with the European House of Photography (Maison Européenne de la Photographie, a.k.a. MEP) in its first year, and subsequently developed partnership with leading photo agencies like Magnum Photos and Rapho, as well as with the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation and the National Foundation for Contemporary Art (Fonds national d'art contemporain, a.k.a. FNAC) in Paris, and the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. It has also worked locally with the National Arts Council (Singapore) (NAC), the Singapore Arts Festival, the Lasalle College of the Arts, Objectifs: Centre for Photography and Filmmaking, Migrant Voices, as well as the Cathay Organisation (with its Cathay Gallery). It also partners regularly with high commissions and embassies such as the United States of America Embassy, the British High Commission and the French Embassy in Singapore.[24][25][26][27]
The festival has partnered with the following venues reaching out to a variety of audiences:
Between 2002 and 2011, the festival has held 47 main exhibitions, including 9 at the Alliance Française Gallery, 3 at the Singapore Art Museum, 3 at the Arts House, 2 at the Asian Civilisations Museum, 6 at Lasalle College of the Arts, 2 at the Cathay Gallery, 2 at the NAFA Gallery, 1 at the SMU Gallery.
Between 2002 and 2010, the festival has exhibited the works of a total of 174 different photographers, from Singapore, Southeast Asia and the rest of the world, either in solo or in group shows.