The Art News Magazine of India

Title: Art India- The Art News Magazine of India Volume 12, Quarter 1, 2007 Edited by Abhay Sardesai
Price: Rs. 150/- ($10)

Clicking the Issues

Art India Magazine has always succeeded in capturing the current trends in Indian contemporary art. It is like a weathercock, looking at the turn it takes, one can make out where our art scene is heading for. Suddenly the Indian art market seems to have recognized one mode of artistic expression; photography. From Rotigraphy to Digital imaging, from landscapes, nudes to environmentally inclined experimental photography, from performance documents to quotidian wayside images captured by the artists armed and eyed with the camera now fascinate the Indian galleries. It shows a change in the trend. Some big players, whether they are national or international players, have now started investing in Photography. So photography as a genre of art seems to be getting its due finally.

Heralding the mature phase of Indian photography (was it not matured before?) the latest issue of Art India Magazine concentrates on Photography as a genre of art. Essays, interviews, reviews and features mainly concentrate on photography not only as a form of art, but as a theme of debate. Shukla Sawant’s lead essay titled ‘Outside the Dark Room’ delineates photography as an art form as well as a source for other forms of art. Perhaps, she is the first one to point out that even Raja Ravi Varma was a mediatic realist who used photography as a point of reference. The live model use and the romantic and emotional entanglements of Ravi Varma suddenly fall into the realm of fiction as she brings in the historical evidence for his mediatic references through the Diary of Raja Raja Varma, brother of Raja Ravi Varma, who accompanied the master wherever he went.

Shukla, by defining photography as a means to ‘inscribe with light’ disputes the commonly held belief that it is a medium to bounce off light to copy the reflected image. This, for her, gives a new way to understand photography in a new light. Referring to the works of Rameshwar Broota, Pushpamala N, Probir Gupta, P.Sainath, Dayanita Singh and so on, she moves away from the traditional ways of referring to the ‘pure’ photographers. However, she seems to be pitching her arguments on the social uses by accentuating on the works of Sainath, rather than debating photography as an aesthetic ploy.

‘A Heap of Broken Images’, a panel discussion led by Abhay Sardesai and Zehra Jumabhoy with the panelists Niyatee Shinde, Matthieu Foss, Ader Gandhi, David De Souza and Shahid Datawala brings out various perspectives on contemporary photography practice in India. Abhay problematizes the secondary role always given to photography in other practices. Niyatee Shinde raises a pertinent question, ‘if there were not such boom in the art market, would photography really be getting this much attention? Is the attention because photographers are suddenly doing great work?’ Foss and Gandhi brings out the historical evolution of Photography in India. Datawala talks about his engagement with documentary and art photography. David De Souza is quite realistic in his approach when he says that he does not exactly comprehend the use of photography in installation and other art forms. Niyatee Shinde raises the issue of nostalgia in photography, though it is not debated further.

David De Souza in his article Candid Camera observes the contemporary uses photography and also the challenges faced by a photographer. He observes that the field of photography needs ‘a Bose Krishnamachari’ who could produce as well as promote photography. Sandhya Bordewekar writes on Baroda’s contributions to photography. But one would wonder why suddenly she refers to Shibu Natesan at the end of her article. The interviews with Sunil Gupta, Raghu Rai, Dayanita Singh are good they try to bring forth intentions of the artists in first person narratives.

Apart from the photography related essays, features and profiles, there are two articles on Liverpool Biennale and Asia Pacific Triennale. Though they have become less glamorous in due course of time, these articles give feasible profiles of these art expositions. Julien Nenault’s tongue in cheek report on Lille 3000 is interesting and he packages the Indian artists in Lille quite well. The report closes with the following comment, “The displays brought into focus a packaged world from elsewhere. Was its projection driven more by commerce than by concept? For Mr.Lille 3000 it was probably difficult to tell the difference.”

I would like to point out two things. David De Souza’s article says that Bollywood actors do not allow anybody to photograph them in casual appearances. In the Tenth Indian Triennale, Katherine Yass had photographed many luminaries of Bollywood in their off screen selves. These pictures were presented as a project titled, ‘Stars’. Perhaps, Bollywood stars allow only the foreign photographers to do that. In Suresh Jayaram’s small article on the works of Anup Mathew Thomas, he observes that Thomas made a project in which he allowed his ‘sitters’ to choose their location, dress, attitude etc. In the late 90’s Parthiv Shah, a Charles Wallace scholar then had done a similar project and it was exhibited in Queen’s Gallery, British Council, New Delhi.

This issue of Art India Magazine is a collectible item though some of the reviews do not hold the attention of the reader for long. Gitanjali Dang’s ‘Tea for Two’ on Paula Sengupta and Adip Dutta is precise and gripping. Zehra Jumbhoy’s take on Krishnaraj Chonat is valid. Girish Shahane’s skepticism on the works of A.Balasubramanium is interesting. Zehra’s ‘Toy Trouble’ is myopic. Rest one could forget or forgive.