An Appraisal of Photographers
Vaishnavi Shivram
About the Writer & Curator
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learnt in lifeIt goes on”- Robert Frost Vaishnavi Shivram Often stuck in a dichotomy of thoughts and choices. She says she’s your usual girl next door with a lot of twists. Basically A delhi based fashion media communication student trying to voice her opinion about fashion, art, lifestyle and other personal things.
P rabuddha D asgupta & Ellen von Unwerth
Prabuddha Dasgupta
Edge Of Faith
The Portuguese Catholic community of Goa and the dilemma amongst the people, caused by the historic event of the Portuguese colonisation in India, 1510 onwards caused Dasgupta to capture every breath of the state while preserving both the culture of both the religions and community’s.
Located on the west coast of India along the Arabian Sea, Goa was liberated in 1961, after 450 years of Portuguese rule. The ambivalence created by this transition of culture and political loyalty provides the backdrop for the work of Indian photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta in Edge of Faith. The 79 black and white photographs create an intimate and deeply personal portrait of the Catholic community in Goa rarely seen before—a portrait of a gentle and generous people, torn between their fidelity to a history of Portuguese faith and culture and their post-Independence Indian identity. Edge of Faith captures Catholic Goa in a haunting, but beautiful impasse—caught in a time warp between comforting nostalgia and a doubt-ridden, insecure future.*1st
Photograph 1
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Photograph 15
Philosophy
A lot has been written and said about Prabuddha Dasgupta’s style of working and his beliefs. Words like fearless, visionary, iconic, philosopher and mostly a perfectionist have been used to describe him over time. An artist who’s known to put at least an iota of his soul into all his pictures be it artistic or commercial, and that a picture is never really an artists’ till there’s an element complementing to the artists’ persona put to it . A photographer for whom, compromising his aesthetics is like compromising his inner sanctum of him being himself. The main and the most perceptible philosophy of him has to be his rawness and his want for everything to have a story and to be natural. There’s a certain naked-ness in all his pictures, with the concepts being so routine yet creating a dichotomy of thought regarding a concealed, more ardent meaning to them.
Ellen von Unwerth
Fraulein
Burlesque as a racy form of entertainment popular in the 19th century- often used as a platform to mimic the societal norms and cultures and the way of life in an overly sensual and erotic manner. In this book curated by Ingrid Sischey we see pictures clicked by Unwerth which are highly inspired by the burlesque artists and the art through cosplay in the photos.
The photos contained in Fraulein, they consist in the main of good girls playing at being bad; and when they’re bad they are, of course, better. With several photos there is a clandestine element/demimonde vibe such as can be found in Brassai’s photos of Parisian nightlife or one or two obscure Erich von Stroheim films. You might be in a burlesque or a brothel, a circus or a swanky hotel during wartime. Each photo as a performance, with cosplay being the predominant aesthetic: having got all dressed up, these ladies now tease and provoke to camera. And like New Burlesque, you can package it as empowerment if you want.*2nd
Photograph 16
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Photograph 2 Photograph 19
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Photograph 30
Philosophy
A woman who’s photos seem so fun and joyful yet erotic at the same time, also having a knack of making them look elegant- must seem as such a strenuous task; but if we had to believe her-“They just have fun”. An artist, whose photos are completely unbleached, very relatable and self-explanatory. Playfulness, personality and charm are the core facets a viewer would see in her photographs, holding tight on to the anecdote. One of her major philosophies to get the outcome that she gets is also to let her subjects be free by not restricting them to a pose always.