A Journey With India Photography and text by Shaun DeparturesFynn प्रस्थान
Copyright © 2022 Shaun Fynn. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying of microfilming, recording, or otherwise (except that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
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4 कथार््य
Author: Shaun Fynn
Managing Editor: Jake Anderson Goff PublishedBooksby Goff Books. An Imprint of ORO Editions
Work / 84-157Stage / 12-83
All photographs by Shaun Fynn Book design by StudioFYNN: Shaun Fynn, Jordan Taylor
Gordon Goff: info@goffbooks.comwww.goffbooks.comPublisher
5 मथार् Pathways / 158-179 Transcend / 180-243 पथार
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Color Separations and Printing: ORO Group Ltd. Printed in China.
As a narrative, the thread that ties the photography of Departures together is an enquiry into the human condition. It is not intended as a documentary and I could not say this is the story of India as India is too complex a land and there can be no definitive work as such. Hence the subtitle to “Journey with” implies that the human condition is a universal condition and for me nowhere is this condition more apparent or accessible than in India, therefore serving as a lens for reflection without borders. Organizing and compiling 20 years of work, including my three year period of living in Chandigarh, was a considerable challenge as the photographic archive is as vast as the subject matter is interesting. Shakespeare’s quote certainly serves as a concept for an overall narrative but within that are the themes and chapters that have been a personal preoccupation or focus. These themes serve as a structure, or organizing principle for the imagery and are loosely associated with a passage of life while obviously not encapsulating all that can constitute such a path. As Jean Luc Goddard once said, “All films have a beginning middle and end, but not necessarily in that order.”
Imagery of India has always intrigued and allured me, but arriving in Mumbai in Janu ary 2000 was my first glimpse of a rapidly changing and urbanizing India. It was also the beginning of a 20-year photography journey that has evolved over the decades to tell a more contemporary story of a complex land and culture. Prior to traveling to India my mental picture was formed and romanticized through contemporary western culture’s view of in India, such as the Beatles’ escapades, the iconic imagery of gods, goddesses, and holy men and the possibility that there is a land where the tenets of belief and value run deeper. Of course, all these perceptions are simultaneously real and unreal, and as such, the mystique of India is undeniable. However, there is also a place to tell a story of today, one that celebrates this depth of tradition and belief but also engages with the more contemporary issues of urbanization, the environment, and informal labor.
Introductionप्रस्तावनता
The title and concept for Departures is constructed on three primary levels. In the sim plest form, Departures is a journey, a voyage, and travel through a spectacular land from the increasing expansion of the modern city to the exquisite isolation of the Hi malaya. Secondly, the photographic approach is intended as a departure from roman ticized imagery of India portraying a more contemporary and gritty reality somewhat in the humanist and social realist traditions of image making. Lastly, Departures is a spiritual journey reflecting the pluralism and diversity embodied in India’s belief sys tems and their service in navigating departure from material to ethereal. Throughout the following narrative and chapters, place and landscape are interwoven to provide context and create a rhythm or breath for the overall body of work.
Stage is the first chapter and a metaphor for the city and places we build and the place where day-to-day life plays out. With a focus on twenty-first-century urban India, it see’s the built world as both spatial and material and is concerned with the human relationship with these spaces. From exposed infrastructures to increasing population densities, the imagery, particularly the photomontages explore the idea of how does it feel to live among an ever growing and changing world—one in flux between the past and rising modernization. Using photomontage within the chapters and sequences of photography, herein referred to as Urban Fabrics, is also a way to elevate and evoke the visceral feelings and memories of life in such urban spaces.
6 “All the world’s a stage and all men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances,” the opening section of Shakespeare’s quote on the human con dition from As You Like it, Act-II, Scene-VII, and one that so wonderfully articulates the impermanence and to some degree ordinariness of our time here. The ordinary and the everyday possess powerful messages and it is these kinds of stories and moments that Departures seeks to articulate as a body of photographs.
The idea of a living city, one that is not defined by buildings alone was wonderfully articulated by Archigram in their 1963 Living City exhibition and essay. “Architecture is only a small part of the city environment in terms of real significance; the total environ ment is what is important, what really matters.” They further express the importance the total environment has on the human condition and the response it generates. Look ing ahead, the planning and provision of the total environment will become increasing ly critical as the world urbanizes at unprecedented rates. According to United Nations data, population growth and urbanization are projected to add 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban population by 2050, which for India means an additional 404 million urban residents.
From office worker or security guard, to road builder or electronic waste recycler, the modern era sees a proliferation of work types and places, especially in the context of the rapid migration from rural to urban. This migration is also a catalyst for socie tal change and the familiar global story of development where workers become more disconnected from the product of their labor. In addition, the idiosyncrasies of office paperwork stacked high and the proliferation of rubber stamps, the iconic symbol of bureaucracy contrast with the arduous labor of road building crews breaking rocks at 17,000ft (5,200 meters) up in the Himalaya. Pathways seeks to assign a word to describe the alternate realties for people with blind ness or mental health conditions. Capturing the open expressions and emotions of joy, wonder, affection, inquiry, isolation, and beauty are central themes of the photography of the wonderful people I encountered in the institutions that so graciously opened their doors to my photography. Ranchhod Soni, a teacher at the Blind Persons Associa tion, Ahmedabad, and blind since birth expressed to me no desire to see as why would he need to change his own perceptions of reality because if one has never known the presence of something then how would one know its absence, absence would mean nothing. It is such eloquence that dissolves the boundary of differences.
Exploring belief, culture, and the vibrancy and intensity of ritual, practice, and place is the focus of the Transcend chapter. Religion and spirituality are fundamental structures pervading many aspects of life. They influence how the day to day is lived and are potentially more imposing than the physical world we build. The power of such beliefs captured in Transcend forms a counterbalance to the Stage chapter where structure is a physical and spatial idea made of brick, concrete, steel, and stone where life plays out between the walls and on the streets. Departures also portrays spiritual India as a pluralist and multi-faith land of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Muslim, and Christian practices among others. Bird imagery appears throughout the narrative as the omnipresent creature, from ur ban to natural landscapes they appear bound yet free. Revered and mythologized by most religions, they serve here as a symbol transcendent of creed or denomination.
The Sector 8 Gurdwara1 in Chandigarh is a gracious place that so kindly offers excellent langar2 and real time translations of the Kirtan3 on screen in English for those of us who don’t understand Gurhmuki,4 or Hindi for that matter. On a rare visit a certain phrase in the Raag caught my eye for its eloquent expression of impermanence, “Intoxicated by the wine of youth I did not realize I was just a guest here in my Father’s house.”5 Food for thought.
1. A place of worship and assembly for Sikhs. 2. Free kitchen provided at the Gurdwara.
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5. A quote from Rag Soohee-Guru Nanak Dev Ji-Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji-Ang 763.
Shaun Fynn
4. The Sikh script .
3.Kirtan is an act of praise, recital, or chant to the deity and the Raag is a melodic framework through which it is delivered.
Work is the core activity of each day, and capturing moments of hardship, burden, bu reaucracy, boredom, humor and chaos are some of the subjects of the second chapter.
All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely theirtheirtheyplayers;haveexitsandentrances.
Stage 12 मंच
Andh Kanya Prakash Gruh, school for visually impaired girls, for sharing their community and as a model of dedication and care. For further information and donations, visit www.akpgschool.org.
I must also thank Chandigarh College of Architecture for their help in gaining access to Le Corbusier’s works in Chandigarh and Thunk in India, Coimbatore for their passion for the circular economy and their introductions to garment factory workers and village textile weavers in Tamil Nadu. This book is dedicated to Amita and Tara. New York, 2022
Blind Peoples Association (BPA) Ahmedabad, and Mr. Ranchhod Soni, teacher, mentor, and eloquent spokesperson for the visually impaired. Further information and donations, visit bpaindia.org.
Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, Delhi, and Bharati Chaturvedi for their assistance and negotiations to access the waste picker communities and e-waste workers in Delhi. I would also thank them for their help in educating me on the real lives of informal/unorganized labor workers beyond statistics and the role they play in the modern economy. These workers and the enterprises they belong to operate outside the jurisdiction of corporate law or support without job security or social protection. For further information, donations, and to learn more about Chintan’s pioneering work supporting marginalized informal workers, their passion for social justice, and commitments to environmental sustainability and responsibility, visit www.chintan-india.org
His first book, Chandigarh Revealed/Le Corbusier’s City Today (Princeton Architectural Press / Mapin 2017) presented a captivating architectural, cultural and social documentary revealing the fascinating urban landscape where the ideals of Le Corbusier and twentieth-century modernism met the culture and realities of twenty-first-century India. Chandigarh Revealed was nominated as one of the top ten architecture books of 2017 by Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) Berlin.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, he has lived in the UK, Italy, India, and the US. His award-winning work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center in New York City, the Chicago Athenaeum, and the Weserburg in Bremen, Germany. He has also been featured in Fast Company, The Atlantic the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian Fynn has been a visiting lecturer at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, and is currently an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design in New York City. In 2015 he was nominated a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
This book has been a long time in the making and I would like to thank the gracious and hospitable people of India for welcoming me into their lives in such and open way. Without such openness this work would be not have been possible. While I have attempted to include many perspectives within the project focus and trajectory, I remain mindful of the lives and stories not told here and that my work is a voice among many voices. Additionally, to create this body of work and gain access to sub ject matter that is not usually in the public eye or serendipitously encountered through street photog raphy I would like to thank the following Institutions and individuals.
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and Praveen Nahar for our long friendship, working rela tionship, and for providing a personal gateway to India. I also thank them for their introductions to the Ahmedabad institutions listed above and their exemplary integration of outreach in education.
256 About the Author UK-born Shaun Fynn is a visual story teller, photographer, designer, and author based in New York.
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
A keen observer of culture and everyday life, his work crafts stories of resonance and empathy for brands, institutions, and culturally focused projects. He founded his design and brand development agency StudioFYNN over 20 years ago has evolved his work to embrace multiple forms of visual com munication. As a photographer his work focuses on the portrayal of the human condition.
BM Institute of Mental Health, Ahmedabad, for pioneering mental health care, sharing their commu nity, and providing hope. Further information and donations, visit www.bminstituteofmentalhealth.com.
