Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Celebrating women
Ang Tau Mui

So the exhibition and all the events around the festival are finally over. The Kakiseni’s Women 100 festival was a blast. Right from the day we found out about the festival till days after the closing ceremony, it’s been one thing after the other and I’m truly proud and happy to have been a part of it.

Since we couldn’t discuss about the festival beforehand, here’s a recap of what happened. Beware this is going to be a long post.

We had only a week to do all the shoots as they needed to kick of the festival asap and prepare all the necessary material. We were assigned performers and asked to shoot based on the characters in each production.

All out

My first shoot was with Instant Cafe Theatre’s Jo Kukuthas at a famous mamak place in PJ. Trust me most PJ Netizen’s would be able to guess the place, coz even the Deputy Minister recognised it from my photo when I was taking her on a tour around the exhibition. This was for their production Sex, Money, Scandal - The Girlie Show.

Kakiseni: women 100

She moves

My second shoot was set at the centre of Bukit Bintang with dancers from Lapar Lab. We were shooting for their production She Moves at a Deliberate Pace. This one attracted a huge crowd of people who joined in to photograph and videograph the dancers. My lovely dancers just did whatever I asked them to do repeatedly ;p People were actually asking us what was going on and I told them to look out for the event in the papers. Had such a good time with the dancers. At one point we even got some boys on unicycles and stilt jumpers to jump for us. 

Lights action dance

However I finally didn’t use them though I might go look for them again ;p

Kakiseni: women 100 

My final shoot took me to Penang to shoot the Ang Tau Mui production for Five Arts Centre. Our production manager, the make up artiste and I headed there for the shoot. I must say this was my favourite shoot (I mentioned Penang twice in the NTV 7 interview so it figures ;p) because they were such lovely people to work with and the ideas they had to complement my own was inspiring. Photos were shot in a shopping mall and temple based on elements of the performance storyline. 

Despair

We had arrived in Penang late in the evening, but they were ready to take us to the locations for a quick view. I feel in love with this painting that was hanging in their gallery cum dance studio. Ho Sheau Fung was brilliant in executing her character, I just had to give her an emotion and she would immediately get into character. I remember when we headed to the temple, the mood just changed as she silently became Ang Tau Mui. It was like I was photographing Ang Tau Mui itself and not an actress.

Oi Ang Tau Mui. Kakiseni: women 100 Ang Tau Mui Anguish Kakiseni: women 100 Reaching out   

Shoots done, we did our magic and sent them to Kakiseni.

The festival was launched on the 100th anniversary of women’s day on 8 April to start of a month of performance. They first 100 hours however started slightly earlier with the beautiful and heart wrenching production of Life Sdn Bhd 6: Abuse. We were in tears watching them tell the stories, some their own. The story that touched me the most was the determination of a rape victim to send her abusers to jail. She waited for years to finally put them in jail for good yet she persisted and her determination and strength amazed me. I wish more women were like her and never gave up in the face of adversary.

The performances by leading Malaysian actresses and performers during the launch were rib tickling and inspiring at the same time. The brochure book featured all the performances as well as our biodata’s and a few of our pictures.

women 100: milestone women 100: milestone My photo ;) kakiseni women 100   

Throughout the festival I managed to watch Life Sdn Bhd 6: Abuse, A Modern Woman Called Ang Tau Mui, 'Butterfly Lovers' Dance . Music . Video Art, Muzik Ku : Muzik Mu’s performance by Elvira Arul, Women On Top, She Moves at a Deliberate Pace and Lady Swettenham. 
My photos of Ang Tau Mui were featured in The Sun and on NTV 7’s Bella during an interview of the leading ladies of both the English and Chinese version of the play. Yes there was two separate productions.

Kakiseni: women 100 - media

Kakiseni: women 100 Kakiseni: women 100 Kakiseni: women 100 Kakiseni: women 100 

I also shot two of the performances, A Modern Woman Called Ang Tau Mui and She Moves at a Deliberate Pace. I ended up watching Ang Tau Mui twice and absolutely loved it. While She Moves was at my favourite venue – Panggung Bandaraya.

Kakiseni: women 100 Kakiseni: women 100 Kakiseni: women 100 DanceUnison  

The exhibition “Beauty Through the Eyes of Four Female Photographers” finally took place from 28th April to 8 May 2011. I was honoured to share the exhibition space with 3 talented female photographers, Evelyn Lam Lip Lin, Naomi Aw Shui Ching and Sharon Lam.

kakiseni women 100

In preparations to the exhibition, we were interviewed on NTV 7s weekly LIVE talk show Bella. 

kakiseni women 100


Our hosts for the afternoon were Elaine Daily and Deborah Henry. Right from the moment we got the call, I was freaked out as this was my first tv interview and it didn’t help one bit that it was a live programme. What if I said the wrong thing, wrong word or went ooo aahhh eee?

Thankfully I didn’t blurt out but ended up talking non stop – hehe verbal diarrhoea ;p I had fun with the gals though as we were all so nervous we had to crack jokes for relief.

kakiseni women 100

kakiseni women 100 kakiseni women 100 kakiseni women 100

The exhibition week began while I was travelling in Thailand so I had very little time to enjoy and visit the exhibition. Thank you so much to everyone who took time to visit the exhibition, post photos and leave me notes. Thank you also to those that bought the specially designed box of 50 postcards that included our exhibited photos and notes from the performances. The proceeds will be given to charity.

kakiseni women 100 kakiseni women 100 kakiseni women 100 

kakiseni women 100  

The closing ceremony took place on 4 May together with the Women, Family and Community Develop-ment Ministry's secretary-general Datuk Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur. The ceremony began with poem recitals. One of them turned out to be my friend. I really liked the unveiling of the new logo to announce next years festival. We were invited on stage and given a pretty daisy each.  Then we each introduced our exhibited work to the VIPs. One of the press photogs turned out to be someone I knew and had a chat with him before we got interviewed by Harian Metro and Utusan. Do also read the report in The Star.

Kakiseni: women 100 - media Kakiseni: women 100 - media Kakiseni: women 100 - media  
 
And with that ends a recap of a lovely festival I had an absolute pleasure to be a part off.
I’ve got a long list of thank you’s to send out to people. So thank you to the brilliant team of people and part timers at Kakiseni who probably never slept for the whole duration of the festival, thank you for ensuring we got to use hard to get locations, arranging everything and focusing on quality always, thank you also for giving us the creative freedom to execute our ideas and thank you for doing a brilliant job with the events.


Thank you to all the lovely performers, makeup artiste, directors, managers, artists, well wishers and everyone who were involved from the performers side to give us their best. Nothing would have been possible without you guys. So thank you everyone.

For more information on packages and schedule. 


Please contact 


Visithra 
visithra(@)gmail.com
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Thursday, March 31, 2011
I'm a KLPA Finalist
Industrial


My photo Urban Goddess which was my first and only submission to KL Photoawards has been chosen as a finalist for the 2011 Competition.


http://www.klphotoawards.com/klpa11top453slide/index.html


My photo will be exhibited together with the rest of the finalist at Annexe Gallery at Central Market beginning the 19 April to 4 May 2011. We will only find out the winners at the awards night on 19 April 2011. I am so excited to be a finalist ;) 


You can help me win the People's Choice award by going here and voting for me. 


Click on the drop down menu and look for 


(34) Visithra Manikam 


http://www.klphotoawards.com/about.html#vote


Please vote for me ;))))))))))


I'm a KL Photoawards Finalist






For more information on packages and schedule.
Please contact


Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Women: 100


Oi Ang Tau Mui.

Phew it’s been a long time since I posted over here, trust me loads of posts should be on its way. Now to start of the posts, let’s talk about a project that’s relevant for now.

I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Kakiseni, Malaysia’s leading arts portal which recently got a revival with the launch of their Women: 100 performance festival. 100 hours of performance by women or women themed stories and artwork began to be showcased on International Women’s Day on 8 March 2011.

As part of the festival I got to work with three performers and showcase their art in pictures. For now I can only share one of the performances that took place in the first week’s photos as they have been published in The Sun and also in the Programme book.

women 100: milestone women 100: milestone My photo ;) Ang Tau Mui

Check out the programme book for a view of the photo and my profile alongside three amazing female photographers, Evelyn Lam, Naomi Ching and Sharon Tan. There is more to come and we will share information as time and place permits us.

My profile ;)

Not only is this a much awaited festival for the KL art sphere but tickets for all the shows are free of charge. We’re talking about quality and stunning performances by so many talented people. Although I wish people wouldn’t book the tickets and not turn up.

The shows have been absolutely stunning, from
  • the first 100 hour show of Life 6: Abuse which had us in tears,
  • the stunning short pieces by Malaysian actresses during the launch on March 8,
  • my favourite show so far which I had the pleasure of photographing Ang Tay Mui by Five Arts which I got to watch twice!
  • Butterfly Lovers – a Butoh performance by Lee Swee Keong
  • Elvira Arul’s mindblowing music
  • Aswara’s Women on Top dance performance – I absolutely loved the Nasi Putih, Wirama and Tepak showcase
I will be catching more shows in the next two weekend so do go to the site and try to get yourself a ticket to the performance or risk it and attend the show to be on the waiting list.

Btw to all photography enthusiasts out there, when its announced that photography is not allowed please respect and heed the rules. It’s really rude to do otherwise; also flash photography is a no-no in live performances as you are distracting the performer.




For more information on packages and schedule.


Please contact


Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com
V-Eyez Imagery on Facebook

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Thursday, January 20, 2011
A journey
In trance

I bought my first own digital camera in 2006 just before Chinese New year that year. It was just a point and shoot camera but oh what a lovely camera the Canon Powershot a620 was. The timing had also been to coincide with the Thaipusam celebrations that year. 

Smoked

So I have been documenting the festival that has been part of my life since perhaps from a year old. A festival very much a part of me and one I don’t seem to tire off.

Blue


Every year I try to see the festival in a fresher approach and I think I have managed to showcase that.

Thaipusam

This year once again I had the honour to take renowned photographer Joe Mcnally, his assistant Drew Gurian as well as photographers, Daniel Capobianco and Michael Greenberg. I also got to take and meet my fellow flickr photographer Dink from Germany. As you can imagine I’ve been super excited and so pumped up, i’m still writing this eventhough i’ve been awake since 2 in the morning!

Joe mcnally

Thanks to the lovely souls and friends who continue to keep me in mind when opportunity comes crashing on our front doors. Its been a second round of fun and awesome shooting ;)

Meeting Jee in 2010 

For more information on packages and schedule.
Please contact

Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com
V-Eyez Imagery on Facebook

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