Preparations are now under way for filming the next phase of Akong: A Remarkable Life in Dharamsala, Bodh Gaya and Nepal. Watch this space for updates.

And as Isolates of Valid Perception at Goldsmiths NAB Gallery ends, Salon/13 at Photofusion, Brixton begins. This exhibition runs until January 24th:

Luckily Sarasa was able to see Isolates at Goldsmiths in December before it ended. Initially we said we'd see if the universe gave a sign of supporting our collaboration. Considering we live on opposite sides of the world and had never met previously, finding the opportunity to see each other's work in situ looks to be a fairly good start. 

Goldsmiths are currently running a feature on Gerry's recent Singapore trip.

Watch this space for updates from India of the next phase of filming Akong: A Remarkable Life.

School Run My first appointment on arriving in Delhi was lunch with Indian Historian and Academic Mary Storm. Mary’s writing was recommended to me only the previous week by Paul Kohl, my Photography AVPhD Supervisor in Singapore. A serendipitous stroke of luck meant I was scheduled to visit Delhi a few days later and Mary kindly invited me to lunch at her home in Chhattarpur.

Mary Storm and Frieda I have an enduring image of entering Mary’s gate to find her huge dog Frieda sitting Sphinx-like on the lawn in front of Mary’s elegant house, gazing at me with intense curiosity – a placid vision that contrasted starkly with the Delhi traffic outside on the street.

Mary is expert in an era of Indian history, philosophy and art that is key to my research - the Pala Period; renowned throughout Asia for the poetics of its visuality. Mary’s house was filled with stunning Indian art. She recommended that I visit the Patna Museum when filming in Bodh Gaya in January. She also suggested that I read the ‘Sadhana Mala’ (Garland of Visualisation) and that I check out Jawaharlal Nehru University School of Arts and Aesthetics in Delhi.

One of Mary’s ex-students Elizabeth Thelen joined us for lunch. Lizzy is devoting a year of her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley to live in Bikaner, Rajasthan in order to research 18^th Century Rajasthani manuscripts.

Jamia Millia Islamia University My next adventure was giving a lecture on Visual Storytelling to students studying Media at Jamia Millia Islamia University. It was my pleasure to meet the students and staff including Professor Obaid Siddiqui; Head of the Mass Communication Research Centre, Filmmaker and Assistant Professor Ambarien Al Qadar (pictured) and many others. I was delighted to be invited to teach at Jamia again in the future.

Filmmaker Ambarien Al Qadar

A central purpose of my visit to Delhi and Mumbai was to attend Higher Education Fairs and to meet the agents who assist Indian students in finding suitable Filmmaking programmes and scholarships at UK universities. I learnt a lot about overseas recruitment on this trip and hope to embark on similar expeditions to China and Brazil in the not to distant future.

During a break at a fair in the Delhi Hyatt Regency, I met Snigdha Moitra of Le Cordon Bleu International Culinary School. Snigdha and I fell into conversation about art over lunch. She described her happiness when painting her artworks from a state of joyful meditation:

Painting by Snigdha Moitra In Mumbai, I couldn’t resist a trip to Leopold’s, the café-bar where much of the intrigue takes place in the novel Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Sure enough the dark corners of the upstairs room oozed an atmosphere of shady goings on. Perhaps because of its notoriety, Leopold’s was the first target in the 2008 Lashka-e-Taibi terrorist attack.

On the last night of my trip, I was invited to dinner at Out of the Blue restaurant in Le Sutra Hotel, Bandra West by a graduate of my Goldsmiths Filmmaking programme Richie Taneja. Richie is now a Senior Producer in Indian Television.

Richie & Gerry at Out of the Blue I have to say that meeting Richie was a real highlight of my trip. We hadn’t met for six or seven years but soon discovered much in common including a love for the tasteful and ethical Fabindia stores. Richie described her dream of one day opening an Art Café in Dharamsala and I of course immediately volunteered to supply some art. Richie reckons her Art Café will be called ‘Still’ – a name that sits well with the underlying theme of Darshana Photo Art pictures - stillness at the centre of motion. It’s a theme that also sits well with my dream of one day staging a photography exhibition in Bhutan attended by the Dalai Lama. And of course the beauty of such dreams is the adventures to be had in their pursuit . . .

Even amidst the whirling chaos of Mumbai, it was possible to find stillness.

My stay in Singapore commenced with a visit to my AVPhD Co-supervisor, the American Photographer Paul Kohl. Paul is Professor of Photography in the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the prospect of cultivating a photographic discipline founded on ancient Indian philosophical tenets. Paul gave me a copy of his recent Photography Book: A Holiday in India and an intriguing essay from a very good friend of his in Delhi, the academic Mary Storm. Mary's writing on Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life is uncannily relevant to my Isolates of Valid Perception project in that we both explore the poetics of translating 8th Century Madhyamaka Prasangika philosophy into visual form.

I stayed at my friend Paul Moody's place in Singapore. Paul and I have known each other for around twenty five years - since we studied on the same Film Course in Newcastle. Paul teaches 3D Film at Nanyang Technological University. He is somewhat taller than me.

On Saturday evening I met with Sarasa Krishnan. Sarasa is Creative Director of the Temple of Fine Arts in Perth, Western Australia. She is currently completing her PhD combining Indian Dance and Fine Art Painting At Murdoch University. We met to explore the possibility of a collaboration. Sarasa kindly invited me to the Singapore Temple of Fine Arts production of Taal Express at the Esplanade on the Singapore Bayfront. I enjoyed the privilege of meeting many of the performers afterwards.

Sarasa and I continued to explore possibilities for our Dance-Painting-Photography-Film collaboration. Our previous discussions had been online so this was our first meeting in person.

Paul and I visited Annalakshmi restaurant at the Singapore Temple of Fine Arts. This is one of Sarasa's paintings in the Temple Dance Hall with the restaurant in the background. Curiously, Annalakshmi does not charge a fixed price for meals. Guests are instead invited to contribute what they wish. After dinner, we met Nawaz Mirajker, Director of Taal Express.

The main event of my Singapore trip was visiting the Puttnam School of Film at Lasalle College of the Arts in my role as Link Tutor to the BA in Film. These visits are integral to the Goldsmiths-Lasalle partnership and this was my fourth visit.

The main purpose of my visit was to participate in Team Assessments. I also engaged in ongoing collaborative activities with the Film Programme Team with a view to supporting staff and student exchanges between Goldsmiths and Lasalle.

Participating in Team Assessments with the core programme team of the BA in Film at the Puttnam School of Film at Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore. 

Monitoring the assessors from a student perspective.

Preparing notes during a break in class - with BA Film Course Leader Charles Maideen.

Discussing the finer points of screen grammar with first year BA Film students at Lasalle.

Chatting with a third year film student about her plans to pursue a career in the Mumbai Film Industry after graduation.

Ironing out a few logistical issues with Gisli Snaer, Head of the Puttnam Film School.

Joining the Film Programme Team in a local Malay eatery. From left to right Charles Maideen - BA Film Programme Leader, Mardhiah Osman - Critical Film Studies, Gisli Snaer - Head of School, Gerry McCulloch - Goldsmiths Link Tutor, Sean Ashley - Sound & Image Postproduction, Hideho Urata - Cinematography.

Discussing a photography collaboration with Gilles Massot from the Lasalle Faculty of Fine Arts. Gilles has been an established Photographer-Artist in Singapore for several decades. Our conversation came about as a result of our respective current exhibitions: Gerry's Isolates of Valid Perception exhibition at Goldsmiths; and Gilles' Constant Self Recording Mode exhibition at Lasalle. 

Christmas comes early in Singapore. A number of initiatives worked out well on this trip both in Singapore and back in London. Paul joked that my life was spiralling INTO control. I then flew to Delhi to give a lecture on Visual Storytelling at Jamia Millia Islamia University . . . .

Please see this Important Article about the Life and Murder of Akong Rinpoche in Tricycle magazine. Akong Rinpoche is the Founder of the first Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Europe at Samye Ling in Scotland. Even at his death, he was committed to the path of social good. Article by Director of Columbia University's Modern Tibet Studies Program, Robert Barnet; Pictures by Gerry McCulloch, Darshana Photo Art.

Interview with Film Director Chico Dall'Inha by Lisa Tully about the forthcoming film Akong: A Remarkable Life. The next phase of filming will take place in India and Nepal in January 2014.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche, born in Kham in Eastern Tibet in 1941, was quickly recognized as a reincarnate lama and enthroned as the Abbot of Drolma Lhakhang Monastery at the age of only four years. In 1959, tensions between China and Tibet reached breaking point and Akong was forced to undertake a dangerous journey across the Himalayas on foot to India aged nineteen.

From the party of over two hundred Tibetans that set off, only fifteen survived the grueling ten-month ordeal. When they reached their destination, living conditions in Buxadaur refugee camp in Assam were extremely poor. The hot climate combined with the lack of food and medicine claimed the lives of many of the surviving refugees, including Akong's elder brother, Jamyang Chogyal. More . . .

Akong Rinpoche was murdered in Tibet on October 8th 2013.

Feature on Gerry re Goldsmiths department of Media and Communications 35th Anniversary Symposium 'Critical, Creative, Radical'. Gerry's Isolates of Valid Perception photography exhibition is part of the celebrations.

Hieizansakamoto | Japan A Darshana Photo Art picture is featured in the latest edition of Laissez Faire magazine. The article covers the recent London Independent Photography exhibition at the Strand Gallery.