We are excited to announce the Open Call for Project Submissions for EXPOSURE+ PHOTO. This call is open to Malaysia-based photographers at all levels to submit project proposals that will form the core of the festival event in Kuala Lumpur, and will be exhibited to the public at multiple venues across the city in September.
As a follow-up event to KL20X20 in addition to the exhibitions, EXPOSURE+ PHOTO is planning to organise workshops, talks on photography as well as digital public screenings of international works and portfolio reviews over a 3 week period. Our event partner sponsor is Canon Malaysia.
THEME : BELONG
Project proposals must be guided by the theme above. You may interpret the theme in its widest sense, literally or metaphorically in any photography genre, with specific reference to social and environmental aspects.
PROCEDURE
Prepare your proposals with an accompanying statement and supporting images, screenshots, sketches in pdf format. These can be uploaded using the link to the online form below.
PHOTOGRAPHY
We would only accept projects that are from traditional analogue or digital capture, with a limited amount of post processing or enhancements, including video works. Montages, multiple exposures and splicing are acceptable. Projects that are primarily digital graphic art are not accepted. We are seeking projects that have strong social interest narratives, high standards of photography and visual content.
Each project in its final edit should consist of up to 10 or 12 images.
TIMELINE
Submission period : 16 January to 28 February, 2021
Selection : Mid March, 2021
Project execution : April to July, 2021
Final selection, edits, prepare for print : August, 2021
HOW TO SUBMIT
Participation is free and all submissions must be received by 28 February, 2021, midnight, Malaysian time.
Submissions will be shortlisted and the final selection of projects will be decided early April 2021 by the co-founders of EXPOSURE+ PHOTO Steven Lee and Nadirah Zakariya.
Workshop 01 : Writing Project Statements and Proposals : Are they fit for purpose?
Sat and Sun : 30 & 31 January 2021 : 8.00 pm~10.00pm : RM100 pp : Max. 10 pax
Your statement or proposal needs to communicate effectively to your audiences. It is therefore a vital part of your entire presentation but is often left as an after-thought to the process of photo editing and sequencing your images.
Are you able to write concisely and efficiently to convey your project across to your viewers? Are you stuck at voicing the points of your story? Are you writing too much off-topic? Are you repeating your your content or over-thinking your narratives? These are some common encounters among many artists.
This workshop is a 2 x two-hour session on simple, effective and successful statement writing to elevate your projects and proposals.
Helpful to photographers planning to submit to the Open Call and other proposals. Facilitated by Steven Lee.
Workshop 02 : Projects in Isolation
Sat and Sun : 6 & 7 February 2021 : 11.00am to 1.00pm : RM100 pp : Max. 10 pax
As Malaysians enter into another period of lockdown and movement restriction, creatives can continue to make projects within our confined boundaries.
Aimed at all levels of photographers, this 2 x two-hour session workshop will explore various methods and processes that can help you to expand and research new ideas and concepts through association, metaphors, and allegories during isolation.
This workshop is suited to all photographers wishing to explore new ‘ways of seeing’ and creating fresh imagery and stories.
Facilitated by Nadirah Zakariya.
About
Steven Lee
Steven is the founder director or KLPA, co-founder of KL20x20 and EXPOSURE+ PHOTO. He has been a portfolio reviewer in several international photo festivals and ran workshops in portraiture, and personal development aspects in photography. He is also a nominator for the 6X6 Global Talent for World Press Photography and Leica Oskar Barnack Award.
Nadirah Zakariya
Nadirah is a Malaysia-based photographer who specialises in creative portraiture and commissioned projects. She has led many workshops and presentations in recent years, and exhibited internationally. Nadirah is the co-founder of KL20x20, EXPOSURE+ PHOTO and Layar Lucida, a women lead creative studio that focuses on film, commercial and music video projects. She is also a 2020 Generation T Asia honoree.
Greetings and a Happy New Year to all our alumni and followers. The Exposure+ platform for personal development in photography and visual literacy is back in with a brand new program for 2021.
Keep reading to discover more..
KL20X20 photographers and team, missing a few Opening Night @REXKL 10 September 2020 Kuala Lumpur
To those that have visited and enjoyed the KL20X20 exhibitions held in Kuala Lumpur in September 2020, the co-founders Steven Lee and Nadirah Zakariya are excited to announce a follow-up event in 2021 with even greater public participation. They are extremely grateful and proud to have Canon Malaysia as the event’s sponsor once again. Being involved in the ever growing photo-communities in Malaysia, Canon has dedicated substantial expertise and resources in championing photography education and personal development, in-keeping with Exposure+’s primary mission.
EXPOSURE+ PHOTO will be held over 3 weekends in September managed by the same support team of Munirah Rohaizan and Stacy Liu, and assisted by our alumni artists.
EXPOSURE+ PHOTO will be announcing an Open Call for Projects that will be included in the September exhibitions very soon. The selected projects will be exhibited at various partner venues around Kuala Lumpur. Be sure to look out for this Call, especially aimed at younger and emerging photographers based in Malaysia.
EXPOSURE+ PHOTO, adhering to its original objective as a Mentoring Photo Program which began in 2013, will select in-depth projects inspired by a specially proposed theme, and will offer the chosen photographers hands-off mentoring and guidance for project development and execution, to final editing and preparation for exhibition.
If you are a Malaysia-based photographer working on long term or in-depth photo projects, we want to hear from you! EXPOSURE+PHOTO is looking to form a community of documentary photographers who possess the skills to tell compelling and interesting stories.
To get notified of updates about the Open Call and other planned events, please join us on our social media pages :
The EXPOSURE+ Photography Mentoring Program is a time-limited program where our mentors assist and guide photographers in identifying stories, ideas or concepts that can be executed into photography projects. Participants work through research and planning, photographing, editing, sequencing and ultimately, creating a visually flowing photo project ready for an exhibition or to be printed into self-published photo-books.
EXPOSURE+ Photography Mentoring Program was initiated in 2013 in Kuala Lumpur and ran for 6 cycles until 2017 when it was paused.
Steven V-L Lee Steven Lee is the founder-director of Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards (KLPA) and initiated Exposure+. He is actively involved in international photography events as portfolio reviewer, mentor and workshop lead. He is currently a nominator for the World Press Photo 6X6 Global Talent Program and Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA).
Steven is also a photographer who began his career in fashion and portraiture, as well as travel documentary work in the early 2000s, and has self-published several books.
Born (1984) and raised in Malaysia, Nadirah Zakariya draws inspiration for her work through her non-specific geographical upbringing. Currently based in Kuala Lumpur, she received her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC in 2010. Nadirah is an internationally published photographer with works in numerous publications such as Bloomberg News, The New York Times Magazine, NYLON, VICE, Dazed and Confused, Refinery29 and Vogue Italia. Her works have been exhibited in cities including New York, London, Paris, Milan and Kuala Lumpur.
In 2011, Nadirah was invited to hold her first solo exhibition, “Daughters Ago” in New York, in 2016 a solo exhibition, “GIRLHOOD” at the Leica Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and her series “Fuji-San LoveLetters” was shown at Ilham Gallery in 2018. Other international group shows include “We See You, We Hear You” in London (2018), “I Am The Woman I Am” during PhotoVogue Festival in Milan (2018) and Tokyo Curiosity 2020 at The Bunkamura Museum in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Nadirah is the co-founder Layar Lucida, a women lead creative studio that focuses on film, commercial and music video projects. She is also a 2020 Generation T Asia honoree.
Munirah Rohaizan From Kuala Lumpur, Nurul Munirah Rohaizan is a self-taught photographer who discovered photography when she was a business student in Dublin, Ireland and is currently based in Kuala Lumpur as Project Manager for the Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards. She is also part of the committee and contributor for KL-Ga.org and was the assistant curator to the MOCA Fest visual art team in conjunction with the World Islamic Economy Forum (WIEF) in 2015.
Stacy Liu is a photographer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Working in both digital and B&W film, her recent works mainly focus on landscape, abstract and observational photography. While photography gives her a reason to explore, capture her ideas and experiences, she also hopes to create curiosity through her images.
After a long silence, we are back with a brand new program to offer photographers.
Exposure-X Photography Mentorship Programme
Exposure+ is proud to present Exposure-X, a new photography mentoring programme specially developed to guide progressive intermediate to advance photographers in elevating their work. Utilising a research-based approach, our mentors will work with participants over six months, developing ideas and concepts; doing research, plans and execution of projects; culminating in a public exhibition and project dissection with selected panelists.
Working in collaboration with OUR ArtProjects, Exposure-X is an expanded version of the original Exposure+ Photography Mentorship Programme, which was introduced in 2013 by Steven Lee, founder of Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards. Activities will include vital enhanced group sharing and discussion sessions to enable critical thinking, project evaluation and feedback for the participants.
Participants will meet with the programme group at regular intervals in OUR ArtProjects, the newest contemporary gallery in Kuala Lumpur and part of The Zhongshan Building arts hub. They will also engage with their personal mentors in their own time, and forge essential peer relationships where the steering of ideas and unlocking of potentials may take place.
We kick off the new program with a Showcase Exhibition of new projects from 8 selected photographers from the Exposure+ alumni. Come and meet the mentors and photographers and also join in on the Project Dissection session with a panelist of three prominent members from the local art community. Discover what the new program entails and what is required of you. Our mentors will be on hand to answer all your questions.
We request the pleasure of your company at the opening of :
Exposure-X Showcase
EXHIBITION OPENING / Thursday, 10th August 2017
TIME / 7:00 – 9:00pm
VENUE / OUR ArtProjects @ The Zhongshan Building
No.80 Jalan Rotan, Off Jalan Kampung Attap, 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Refreshments will be served
Kindly RSVP contact@ourartprojects.com
In conjunction with the exhibition, there will be a project dissection with panellists K Azril Ismail, Liew Kung Yu, and Yee I-Lann on Saturday, 12th August 2017 at 3:00pm. Open to Public.
Seats are limited. Kindly RSVP syaza@ourartprojects.com
Registration for the Exposure-X programme is now open.
I am a third generation ethnic Chinese born in Malaysia. My great grandfather left Hui-Yang, Guang Dong, China and settled in Malaysia in the early 1900s. Fascinated by my ancestral lineage, I travelled together with my sibling and cousins, on our maiden trip to our ancestral house in October 2015. We had with us a “Zhu Pu”, a book recording our family tree, which was passed down from our great grandfather, and we were able to trace our ancestral lineages, ancestral house and contact our Chinese relatives.
This photo project is an on-going personal exploration, documenting my journey to trace my ancestral lineages and ancestral home. I chose to photograph my family in Malaysia and at the ancestral home in China.
Through this project, I am rekindling family memories and encouraging people to learn about their roots, in order to define their future.
Wang Seok Mui
I am an amateur photographer who shoots everything under the sun, including the moon. However, I have a keen interest towards street and documentary photography. I have never participated in any photography exhibitions or won any photography contest.
Seok Mui was mentored by Cheryl Hoffmann. (Exposure+6)
Announcing a public exhibition by the Exposure+6 cohort to take place at the brand new Nikon Centre gallery in Kuala Lumpur! Participants that will be exhibiting their projects are Marie-Claire Lacey, Mohamad Fitri bin Jalil, Wang Seok Mui and Lawrence Cheong. The Exposure+6 session began in September 2015.
On Saturday 23 January, the participants based in Malaysia will be sharing their projects with their friends and visitors, along with the mentors. All are welcome.
Venue :
Nikon Centre Kuala Lumpur
Lot GF 003 -006, Ground Floor
Federal Arcade
No 7, Jalan Bintang
Off Jalan Bukit Bintang
Bukit Bintang Central
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2142 0218/9
Moving Forward
* Registration for the next instalment of Exposure+7 will open shortly. Our programs will now run for 6 months (instead of 3) to enable participants to delve deeper into their research, photography and ultimately, stronger portfolios. More info on this new format soon.
Sejak akhir-akhir ini saya terfikir melayu itu bagaimana. Patutkah dikaitkan Melayu itu dengan Islam, atau adakah Melayu itu Melayu dan Islam itu Islam patut dipisahkan.
Namun persoalan itu akan terjawab dengan sendirinya terserah kepada penilaian pendapat setiap individu.
Dari sudut pandangan saya amalan budaya dan adat adab Melayu itu berkait rapat dengan terapan ajaran Islam. Adakah ini kebetulan atau sememangnya Melayu itu Islam dan Islam itu Melayu.
Mohamad Fitri b. Jalil
I bought my first DSLR last March 2015. I didn’t participate in any workshops before. I just learned by myself how to handle the camera in manual mode from the information in the manual booklet. I am learning basic photography rules from the internet and sometimes I meet my mentor (commercial photographer) once a month to discuss my photography and he would ask me to join him to shoot when he has assignments, mostly on KL tourism.
The development of capitalism and individualism have taken a somewhat unique course in Japan, a course that has created a particularly fertile breeding ground for mental distress. Whereas in most western nations, feudalism and the norms and values that underpinned it were overthrown and replaced by a new system characterized by a fundamentally different ideology, in Japan, Capitalism was co-opted by those in power and transplanted onto the existing societal system. The Meiji revolution of the 19th century was less a liberation of those oppressed by one ideology than it was a cunning move by those who benefited from it to graft onto the feudal system western developments in a way that suited them, leaving an unbroken cultural thread and liberating no one.
Modern Japan has inherited the drawbacks of Capitalism – the alienation, the lack of community and stability. However, the living on of collectivist values means that the freedoms of individualism that normally compensate to some degree for these ills, are lacking. Feudal society was characterized by a more laissez-faire framework. In Japan, expectations placed upon the individual – to live in a certain way, to show loyalty to employer and government – remain. But little of that loyalty is returned.
The alienation of individualism has taken hold, but the confines of collectivism still underpin society. The modern Japanese individual is pulled and pushed from all sides by the pressures of conflicting ideologies existing in tandem, and in tension, with one another.
Marie-Claire Lacey
Marie-Claire Lacey lives in Glasgow and is an experimental documentary photographer.
“I am a photographic artist from Glasgow, primarily working in analogue with experimental techniques and mixed media. I am fascinated by the way light works and enjoy exploring different ways of manipulating it to create images.
I believe that art should be a synthesis of form and content, so while the aesthetic aspect of expression is of great importance to me, I also try to use art as a way of communicating questions I have about the world we live in, ranging from playful explorations of things like perception and the construction of individual identity to critical investigations of the mechanisms of society. I’m really interested in the ways in which we interact with the world – both with each other and with our surroundings. I have recently completed a Masters in sociology, specialising in the nature of mental health and have since been exploring these themes from an artistic perspective.”
Places of Memory is a photo project documenting the portrait photographs that are left as traces of memory and its location for remembrance. Some are left uncased, others kept framed or simply placed into objects in convenient locations, leaving us slightly puzzled as we try to make sense of them and their chosen spots for remembrance.
As Lawrence explore spaces and locations in between Ipoh to Sungai Siput, he reveals places of memories that are usually kept away from the public eye – such as the old photo studio that is now a home and the Mahjong Club. For the photographer, he explores and share this feeling of walking into the past or into someone’s private thoughts as he observes the portraits and their surroundings. His inquisitive nature allows him to engage with the owners of these memories and gives us glimpses into these places of memories.
Lawrence was mentored by Erna Dyanty. (Exposure+6)
Lawrence Cheong
Lawrence is new to photography and is exploring it’s potential as a story-telling medium. He lives in Ipoh.
