Preamble
The BAF (Better Art Foundation) is a non-profit public charitable trust registered in India under the Indian Trusts Act 1882. The core objective of the foundation is to build and operate PHOTOMUSE – The Museum of Photography (ഫോട്ടോമ്യൂസ്) in the state of Kerala, India.
This museum adheres to the Code of Ethics for Museums adopted by the International Council of Museums, published in 2013. The Museum has published ‘PHOTOMUSE – The Museum of Photography: CONSTITUTION and STATUTES’ adopting the Code of Ethics for Museums by International Council of Museums (ICOM) on case by case basis, making necessary inclusions and deletions, taking the specific context of this Museum in to consideration. This document has paid due consideration into all legal, professional and ethical issues raised by ICOM.
Mission
PHOTOMUSE – The Museum of Photography is a national repository of photographic images that documents, preserves, interprets and promotes the natural, cultural and scientific inheritance of humanity through the medium of photography and photographic history while emphasizing India’s photographic legacy.
Through outreach and educational programs the museum emphasizes Indian and worldwide cultural, environmental preservation, and public education through photography. Nurturing a responsible generation with love for art, care for nature and respect for the humanity, using photography as an effective tool to instil such qualities, will be the ultimate goal of the Museum.
The Museum has an important duty to develop its educational role and attract wider audiences from the community, locality, or group it serves. Interaction with the constituent community and promotion of their natural and cultural heritage is an integral part of the educational role of the museum.
The Need
● India has not many facilities to preserve its photographic legacy
● In India, photographic documents and photographic art produced at grass-root level are seldom found, collected and preserved for future generations. Many such work are on indigenous art and cultures, indigenous tribes and Natural history, all of which are important as historic records of the Nation’s inheritance.
● The state of Kerala, southern India, where the Museum is planned to set up, has not many institutions that collect and preserve photography either as an art form or as records of history.
● The Nation needs an institution which can act as a photographic repository of its natural history, culture and all other human inheritance.
● The Nation needs a Museum which can showcase international photography for the people to enjoy and get engaged in international cultural exchange.
Museum Logo
Sap Green circle with colour swatches.
The Sap Green circle represents a green and prosperous world; the upper tri-colour swatch of Scarlet Red, Gamboge yellow and Cobalt Blue represent a colourful world of art and culture; the lower tri-colour swatch of Ivory Black, Titanium White and Siena Brown represent three colours of human races.