sunil janah passes away
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3559899.ece
The older generation of Indian photographers continues to pass away. Sunil Janah was younger than Homai Vyarawalla and apparently more politically committed to a certain politics. He had been a member of the Communist party of India and its official photographer - in his early years.
His political sensibility , however, did not continue into his other work. His very male gaze, the gaze that he turned towards women - especially tribal women -certainly did not show his Marxist politics. The book that Satyajit Ray designed for him was actually called "The Second Creature". The nudes in it lay bare the lack of any awareness of the politics of his gaze. He says, in one of the captions in the book, that "I took this photograph from a low angle to emphasize her character" but the low angle works mainly to emphasize her breasts.
There is another point I have to make about the politics of his photography. The tribal women were not the only nudes he shot. He photographed his middle class women friends too.The middle class women , though, were given a certain right to their images - their nudes would not be shown or published during their lifetimes.That was a right that he denied the "Other" tribal women. The Second Creatures.
The older generation of Indian photographers continues to pass away. Sunil Janah was younger than Homai Vyarawalla and apparently more politically committed to a certain politics. He had been a member of the Communist party of India and its official photographer - in his early years.
His political sensibility , however, did not continue into his other work. His very male gaze, the gaze that he turned towards women - especially tribal women -certainly did not show his Marxist politics. The book that Satyajit Ray designed for him was actually called "The Second Creature". The nudes in it lay bare the lack of any awareness of the politics of his gaze. He says, in one of the captions in the book, that "I took this photograph from a low angle to emphasize her character" but the low angle works mainly to emphasize her breasts.
There is another point I have to make about the politics of his photography. The tribal women were not the only nudes he shot. He photographed his middle class women friends too.The middle class women , though, were given a certain right to their images - their nudes would not be shown or published during their lifetimes.That was a right that he denied the "Other" tribal women. The Second Creatures.
posted by Satish Sharma at
08:24
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