Hyderabad, November 17, 2023: School of Arts & Design, Woxsen University and University for Creative Arts (UCA), Farnham, UK have collaborated to organise a 3-day photography Exhibition to be held between November 15 – 17, 2023. International Photography Seminar held earlier this year in April serves as the baseline for this exhibition which deals with themes of ‘Gender and Gesture’ through the cross-cultural interpretation of such societal expectations. The aim of this exercise is to extract diversity of response and foster an understanding of gender roles within a socio-political setup.

This collaboration has fostered discussions on the social narrative surrounding Gender and gesture and facilitated engagement in insightful presentations by serving a dynamic platform catering to academicians, research scholars and design/art practitioners. The findings from this project will be shared at University for Creative Arts, UK, in Spring 2024 where it will culminate while threading prevalent narratives across cultures and institutions.

The three-day photography event hosted at IIT Hyderabad, and Woxsen University saw participation from not only photographers but students, researchers, and people from the larger design community. This Exhibition, as part of a larger project, has core objectives like developing cross-cultural collaboration among universities, involvement of stakeholders representing diversity to build a strong social context, exploration of joint publication opportunities and creation of opportunities for students through international funding. This Project views photography as a tool for social activism and change, not merely as an art form and it gravitates towards active participation, open calls, academic research through practical applications, pioneering innovative methodologies and establishing a visual research benchmark.

Dr. Adity Saxena, Dean of Woxsen School of Arts & Design, remarked, “This project aims to address the complexity of gender and gesture in a cross-cultural context. I am delighted to see the brilliant submission from India and UK.”

The inaugural session held at Woxsen University also featured a talk by Dr. Caroline Molloy, Programme Director - Fine Arts and Photography at UCA, Farnham, UK. Dr. Molloy’s talk on ‘Experimental Portraiture Workshop’ explores uncanny narratives created by the portrayal of culture, class, and people through Photography. When the program was coming to an end, she stated, “I was amazed to see how the entire event is planned and executed by the faculty and students. This is a true cross-cultural project that connects the wider Community.”

Second and Third Day of this event was hosted at IIT Hyderabad and Prof. Budaraju Srinivas Murty, Director of IIT Hyderabad inaugurated it. Noteworthy participants of this event include names like Deepak John Matthew, IIT Hyderabad & Advisory Board Member, Vishnu Ponna, Film Design Consultant & Creative Video Director. The project’s external advisory board members include Dr. Manish Arora from Department of Applied Arts, BHU, Madhukar G., Prof. in Photography, JNAFAU; Nicola Shipley, Director of GRAIN Projects, and Nilupa Yasmin, Lecturer at Coventry University and Studio holder at Grand Union at Birmingham.

Vicky Hodgson from University of Creative Arts emerged as the winner of this Photography Exhibition and the first prize of 125 USD was awarded to him. Sremanth M from School of Arts & Design, Woxsen University, who received 100 USD, secured second place at the Exhibition.

Prof. Budaraju Srinivas Murty, Director of IIT Hyderabad said, “We should do more of such joint projects and support each other through sharing knowledge and guiding the research scholars. We are deeply interested to collaborate in the 2nd phase of the project by involving more students from IIT and Woxsen University.”

This project contributes to global research, supports the students in traversing through complex concepts associated with diversity, inclusivity, and gender. The core pillar of Woxsen University is lays emphasis on cross cultural collaboration for Internationalization, the project aligns itself with it while increasing the global reach of the school.

About Woxsen University:

Woxsen University, Hyderabad is one of the pioneer private universities in Telangana, India which is renowned for its state-of-the-art campus spread across 200 acres and Infrastructure. Woxsen University offers multiple breakthrough study programs in the field of Art & Design, Architecture, Business, Technology, Law, Liberal Arts & Humanities and Sciences. Woxsen University has 120+ Global Partner Universities and a Strong Industry connect as it is placed among one of the top universities for Academic Excellence and Global Edge. Woxsen is ranked at #101+ master’s in business Analytics, #151+ master’s in finance, #151 master’s in management by QS Business Masters World Ranking 2024 #12 All India Top 10 B-Schools by Times B-School Ranking 2023, #15 All India Top Private B-School by Business World 2022, and a feature in Dalal Street Investment Journal 2023 under the category of India’s Best B-Schools beyond IIMs.