Susan Sontag’s question about whether photographs merely “capture reality” or whether they interpret it is the same as the difference of whether photographs are a reality or a perception of reality. Perception is an awareness resulting from sensory processes while a stimulus is present. Whereas a reality is the state of things as they are or appear to be.
My experience at the exhibit Modernism on the Ganges: The Photographs of Raghubir Singh in the Met Bruer, is another distinct way to tell the difference. When looking at the vast majority of Singh’s photographs I was accompanied by an elderly lady who took her phone out to take a picture. In medias res of taking the picture, a museum guard asked the lady to put down the phone because taking a picture of the photographs were against the museum rules. As a result of the museum guard’s demand, the elderly lady was forced to interpret the photographs at the exhibit to share with her husband back at home. The no phone policy denied capturing the photographs through the lady’s phone and made the lady interpret the photographs as she remembered.
Intriguingly, Singh captured, by means of photography, India as a different place than the British colonel photographers did. Singh’s photography captures the reality of post-colonial and post-partition by showing a radical contrast of colors to depict the time of radical economic and political transformation. This transformation is framed in both rural and urban areas. Photos that Singh captures in rural areas consist of are “On Vivekananda Rock” taken over the Kanyan water and “Catching the Breeze” taken in the Hathod Village. On the contrary, photos that Singh captures in urban areas consist of “Pavement Mirror Shop” taken in the city of Howrah and “Crawford Market” taken in the crowded city of Bombay. He borrowed his Western values and combined it with his Indian values to give the viewers a well-rounded interpretation of India. Singh also so brilliantly takes a photograph of another picture within a frame. Singh does this intentionally to make his viewers ask more questions and interpret the cause for this.
Lastly, this was the second photographic exhibit I have ever been to in my life. The first being the Miskin Gallery in the Baruch building that I attended last week. I found it fascinating and appropriate to contrast, as Singh does, the difference between exhibit full of paintings and picture. I have concluded that paintings are created through interpretations, not necessarily capturing reality but capturing an interpreted reality. While, pictures present a captured reality that can later be interpreted. Thus, I find Raghubir Singh’s photographs so brilliantly framed because it captured a wide range of India through color showing and allowing the viewer to interpret the economic and political time.
Andrew Langer
Frame within a frame
“Crawford Market” photo taken by Raghubir Singh
“Pavement Mirror Shop” photo taken by Raghubir Singh
“Catching the Breeze” photo taken by Raghubir Singh
“On Vivekananda Rock” photo taken by Raghubir Singh
I like how you clearly differentiated perception and reality, I do not think anyone could have explained it better. Singh’s well- rounded interpretation of India helped the viewer interpret and really internalize the situation at hand. The economic, political and social struggles of the time are portrayed through his images. Your discussion of the contrasts seen in the photographs are on target. Great job with tying your experience at the Miskin Gallery into your experience at the Met Breuer! I really enjoyed reading your blog! Keep up the excellent work!
I think you did a really great job of discussing the contrasts that are evident throughout Singh’s photographs, an detailed the examples that truly detailed those contrasts. He really did capture the essence of India in its post-colonial era over a broad spectrum in both the rural and urban senses. I also really like how you related your experience witnessing the ld woman at the museum. I think it definitely speaks volumes about the way memory has an effect on how we frame and interpret and frame something that we see if we cant recollect it detail for detail. Really great job!
I’m glad you mentioned the “Catching the Breeze” photograph which was taken in Hathod Village because that photograph stood out to be in the exhibit as well. The background focus of the picture is an example of the kind of poverty the people were living through. Poverty is never easy on individuals and living through it truly shows all the hardships invidiuals faced. The focus on the picture is the two young girls swinging. They are simply creating happiness by attaching a rope to a tree and swinging from it, simple. These kinds of simple moments that Raghubir Singh captured shows that joy was able to found in the smallest of things, despite the hardest of times. Overall, I enjoyed reading your blog. Great job.