In Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” she talks about how our culture is departing from craving experiences and moving towards a need to capture and consume. Our age prefers the photograph to the real thing, appearance over experience. This is due largely in part to the invention of the camera, and furthermore the innovation that the camera has gone through, from a large, bulky, inaccessible device to an extension of ourselves that we keep in our pocket at all times. Cameras allow us to replace reality by creating a ghost of the moment and people no longer feel that they need to actually experience something in order to understand it. This creates a market around the experience of moments, you didn’t really see something if you didn’t take a photo of it and post it on social media (for social capital). Moreover, if you have simply taken a photo of something, you have experienced it. I think that this leaves people feeling an emptiness inside them, they went somewhere, photographed it, but still don’t feel connected somehow. How can we bridge this gap between the experience of something and the photographic capture of something?
India in the 1970’s was going through a postcolonial discovery period, on one hand there was a push to revert to traditional Indian movements and styles and on the other hand, the Western influence was still prevalent and had the allure of modernity. Raghubir Singh’s exhibit “Modernism on the Ganges” shows how he utilized a humanist style of street photography that was traditionally European in style and usually showed European or other cultures through a white, European lens. Singh revolutionized this style by showing his world through an indigenous lens. Singh showed what everyday life in India looked like, the bright colors of tapestries and clothes seem to glow on chromogenic and gelatin prints.
In the smaller villages that Singh photographed, he captures candid images of people in their everyday lives, undisturbed by the presence of a camera. However, in his photos of Bombay which had a larger Western influence you can see how his subjects are all posing for the camera. These subjects know about pop culture and that their photos might be publicized and seen by others. Sontag also talks about this phenomenon, that this feeling of being photographed gives a sense of validation, makes one feel “real.”
Singh also spent some time in Northern England examining South Asian immigrant populations there. He analyzes the complexities and contradictions of immigrant life in a Thatcher-era Britain. In his photographs he combined Western modernism with Indian aesthetics, which might seem novel but I believe that it has some concerning implications. I think that photographing a country like India in a “western” style can result in an appropriation of the actual experience and reality that exists there. Even though Raghubir Singh is Indian himself, I think that when these photographs get circulated and are accessible to people like me, a white, privileged colonizer, it allows me to think about India in an only surface level way. I am able to view these photographs from the comfort of a well funded museum in my own city and then leave and go on with my daily life. None of the implications of actually experiencing India need to exist. Of course without photography it might be harder to understand what India in the 1970s and 80s was like. There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding the value of photography as a cultural artifact and as artwork, so I don’t think I can take a particular stance on it. I think the most important thing one can do to avoid merely consuming photographs is to be vigilant and actually try to understand the content and context of the photos.
Julie Woudenberg
I dont necessarily agree that our age prefers a photograph of the real thing over the actual thing. I think it is more that our generation likes to have the power to remember things that make us feel good later. Like we do not want the moment to pass.
I do somewhat agree that the idea that you don’t need to be present at a thing to experience it is coming about. However, it is a false one as we know because nothing can replace the actual being there. However, there are some things you just cannot be there in person to witness and that is why photography is as useful as it is in that aspect.
Julie, I loved your entire post! Your statement that “our age prefers the photograph to the real thing, appearance over experience,” is so incredibly truthful. As a mass-media culture we are so consumed with capturing every moment of our lives, that we sometimes forget to actually live them. We forget to stop and enjoy the little things. To smell the roses, instead of taking an “artsy” shot of them and posting it on Instagram or Snapchat.
Great work!