THE ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY Fall 2017 | Baruch College | Macaulay Honors

Ariel Margolin

                                                Raghubir Singh

In our euro-centric recount of history, we often forget one of the greatest, most significant historical events of the past 500 years: the de-colonization of India and its modern effects. The lives lost were in the millions, the cultural shift was immense and the results are still a live ball today. India feels the repercussions of a dirty split with Pakistan and the sudden, un-helped drop Britain did to them; where no aid was given as they were abandoned after centuries of rule. Raghubir Singh’s photography captures the awkward stage of transition the Indian Subcontinent was experiencing. It captures just how retained some of the vestiges of the colonial days, but even these bygones have a distinct Indian flavor.

The photo which stuck out to me the most was the sunset bathing in the Ganges river. Although, the river is of immense religious significance, and bathing within its waters is a ritual of the Hindu faith, the bathing in this photograph was something much different. The participants were most likely not bathing as a religious ceremony, but were instead doing this out of a lack of running water. I was particularly intrigued by this photo as even today India is plagued by massive levels of poverty. Although the country underwent a meteoric economic rise in recent years, much of the population still lives in abject squalor. I was stricken by this sight as this is not the India you see in travel agency pamphlets, it is the real India brought to our attention by a celebrated artist.

The distant second for me was the photograph of the Ambassador Car. The photograph piqued my interest as in one photograph, we see the multiple figural layers of paint that have been applied to the “Indian Canvas.”. The Ambassador car is the quintessential imprint the English left on India, and its continued production well into the days of independence shows Britain’s lasting impression. The detail we must not forget to notice is of the building behind the car. The building is clearly of Portuguese creation and reflects the multiple ruling powers that governed India over the years. It really is nothing short of amazing how one photo can reflect more than 3 full-length historical encyclopedias.

Although the Baruch photo gallery was superb as well, I enjoyed the Raghubir Singh exhibit just a bit more since the photos were able to capture such an expansive array of information. Another thing I noted was how the photos were often times many years apart and reflect how quickly India went through great change. I would recommend the exhibit to anyone who is interested in learning something about India in an atypical setting, with atypically intriguing information.

Ariel Margolin

Blog #6

Although I was left perplexed beyond most words, I found Dr.Caligari to be one of the most interesting works I’ve seen recently. I believe it was meant to create fright in its audience via sheer confusion; the insane jump from scene to scene, and inexplicability of certain elements perfectly captures the mind of the insane. They say hell is a place of disorder, and what Dr.Caligari lacked in special effects due to the limitations of the times, it made up for in showing us the delusion and disorder of an unhinged world. Beyond the macabre and horrorful screen sights, Dr.Caligari was meant to portray a very serious and sane idea to the audience: the manipulation of society into war. As soon as Professor Heath said to look for a historical/philosophical undertow to the film, my eyes were affixed in search of such. Between the lines of mayhem and bedlam, I gathered that Cesare was the common man lulled into non-thought by his warsome government (in the form of Dr.Caligari) and sicced onto whomever his master wanted dead. Although I enjoy watching old films, writing one in the style of is a weighty challenge indeed, but this is a mountain I will scale. Dr.Caligari’s ethereal screen works proved to me that reality can be shown through many different courses, even those which we would label as crazed.

My silent film would be set in the course of one night and would be uncovering the mystery of a murdered person found in the alley adjacent to a popular bar. The people contact a policeman on the street and it just so happens that this police-man is on thin ice with his lieutenant, and needs a big break and doesn’t call in the murder to solve on his own to receive all the credit. The policeman would follow the bloody tracks through the winding alleyways until he enters a secret hell. This hell would be paintings upon paintings of all the worst moments of his life and as he rushes back in escape, he stumbles over the dead body and sees it his him. The film would end there and the central message would be self-destruction is not always self-evident, and how sometimes the end can come without us seeing it.

           Dr.Caligari surely expanded my understanding of early film. My impression of silent films was that they were sappy love-stories with an occasional piano falling for comedic effect; I was surprised to find a thought-provoking prototype to the psychological horror-films of today. I would want my old film to have the same eerily, skin-crawling effect Dr.Caligari had on me. Perhaps the movies of today can take a page from Dr.Caligari’s book and make their audience leave in thought.

Raghubir Singh’s photos of post-colonial India are photos I believe most people still reference when talking about India. Modern day children in the U.S have probably grown up studying these images without knowing the photographer behind it. Personally, the picture I enjoyed the most is “Trichur, Kerala, 1985”. The red inside of the car in contrast to the blues and greens is a play with colors I genuinely enjoy in photography. A lot of Singh’s pictures use a contrast in colors like that, which draws the eye more than if he did not do it. I think knowing that Singh actually lived through this time period adds extra depth to the picture. It is interesting to think about how he was not necessarily capturing these pictures to document a change in time, but simply to have the pictures. It adds a pureness to the pictures, a realness.

In this instance, I think Singh is both capturing reality and interpreting it. He is capturing, in essence, the truth of post-colonial India. It just is what it looks like. Going back to the idea of using pictures as proof, Singh’s pictures are, in a way, proof of a post-colonial India, after European influences that would bring about so much change. He beautifully captures India’s landscapes and culture with each picture. One thing I think is interesting is how he mixes India’s almost old-fashioned style in clothing, buildings, and architecture with more advanced technology. This is a part of capturing another segment of India’s reality. The change from before European influences to after can be really seen throughout his photographs. This can be really seen in his photo titled Bidar Fort, Karnataka. It depicts a very modern looking car, that was probably made in the 70’s or 80’s. But through the tinted window of the car, you can see a building that is relatively old. It probably has a great deal of historical context and meaning. To see it pictured in such a sense gives viewers the feeling that post-India is leaving this culture behind, or moving from it.

This is where I feel the photographs go more into interpreting post-colonial India. There is the question of if and how Singh is interpreting this change through his photography. And the answer lies in exactly how he photographs the reality around him. His interpretation does not have a negative feel nor a positive connotation. His photographs feel neutral, not judging or deciding. His photos show the everyday people of India going about their works, while the scenery around them changes. And it is not as if they are unaware that the change is happening, more as though they are accepting of it. These people have accepted the change and now are adapting as human do and are incorporating the features of post-colonial India into their everyday life. Singh is capturing the change and his interpretation leaves the viewers with the feeling that this is affecting Indian society, but how far, is yet unknown.

Photography has become an extremely prevalent, if not imminent, aspect of life for anybody living in a technologically advanced environment. While it has been an amazing tool for connecting, educating, and entertaining people, photography has also shifted some of the focus from experiencing our lives to attempting to capture them. In her piece On Photography, Susan Sontag discusses the effect that the ability to capture our experiences has had on people. Being exposed to photographs of other peoples’ experiences can desensitize us to the content that is being shown, to extent. This desensitization can lead us to be disappointed in our own experiences if they do not entirely live up to or match the preconceptions of them that we develop by looking at photographs of them. Photographs not only capture some aspects of our experience, but I would argue that they do, in fact, interpret them to an extent. It is nearly impossible to capture every single aspect of an experience, and many do not even wish to do so. In today’s world where most people have cell phones in their pockets, many of us are tempted to capture the best aspects of our lives in order to create a virtual representation of them. Photographers are often focused on portraying whatever perspective of a given experience supports their agenda or views. For this reason, whenever we view a photograph, we are getting not only the image, but the frame and lens through which the photographer viewed it.

To my understanding, Raghubir Singh’s photography is not only beautiful and evocative, but also honest. He portrayed the people of India as kind, beautiful, and vibrant. Many of his subjects were not posing, or in some cases, even aware that they were being photographed. These pictures show many smiles, warm embraces, and moments of warm interaction between friends and family. His work was described as portraying “palpable humanism.” Singh’s choice of 35mm Kodachrome film highlighted the natural colors of his photographs, making them more vivid and especially accentuating the reds and blues. As Singh began moving away from the villages and into Bombay, his focus seemed to shift from the spirit of the places he was capturing to the spirit of the people. These later photographs showed more subjects aware of being photographed, many of them looking directly at the camera and some of them pointedly ignoring it. Singh’s portrayal of his subject showed the humanity behind a population that was likely not very well understood by people that had not lived there, perhaps bringing the world a little closer together. The warmth that could be seen in the people of post-colonial India showed the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit, a reminder that is very important in our troubling times.

Veronica Funk

I really never knew much about post-colonial India.  Colonialism is something that seems to have happened hundreds of years ago.  The fact that India was colonized until as recently as 1947 seems surreal.  The post-colonial world leaves its’ inhabitants in an in-between place, struggling to validate their own culture and identity while finding ways to integrate the positive aspects that are left behind from their former rulers.  That is assuming there are any positive aspects.  I imagine that there must be a lot of psychic conflict for the people of a land who have gained independence.  It is impossible to develop and mature under a sovereign’s rule and not integrate some of their emotional lives into our own.  However, knowing that independence is something being withheld and our own ethnic identities at stake means that integration of the sovereign’s identity is not something we willing undertake.  Raghubir Singh photographed post-colonial India in what I imagine was partially an attempt to capture this conflict.  His photographs range from busy street scenes to wild countryside’s.  Some of his photographs that particularly stand out in my mind are Kite Flying Festival, Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Below the Howrah Bride and Groom After Rites by the Ganges, Calcutta; Housewife, Jaipur, Rajasthan and Dhabawallah or Professional Lunch Distributor.  In the Kite Flying Festival we are treated to a view of some people standing on a rooftop and flying kites.  I feel that this is more of a realistic vs artistic view of life in post-colonial India but it does capture a spirit and independence of the people flying kites.  Below the Howrah depicts a bride and groom in traditional dress under a modern bridge.  This picture can be taken in both a realistic and interpretive sense.  It can be seen as a simple portrayal of a wedding party but it can also be seen as the juxtaposition between tradition and modernity and what it means to retain our traditional values in a world that keeps changing.  Housewife is certainly a photograph that begs to be taken at face value: a woman hanging laundry outside her house.  But I see a beauty in this piece: an independence in the woman, a sense of timelessness in her activities and a sense of purpose to her actions.  My favorite picture is Dhabewallah or Professional Lunch Distributor.  This depicts a man, staring boldly at the camera, holding multiple lunches in one hand and standing on a busy street.  It’s difficult to say what exactly captivates me about this picture- the burning intensity in the man’s expression, the fact that a job exists as professional lunch distributor, the wonder of getting a lunch delivered while living in a busy city.  I think this picture sums up what the artist was aiming at, giving us a glimpse into post-colonial life while also still making the point that the people of India have retained their traditions and spirit.

In order to write this blog, I had to refresh my knowledge of India and its fight for independence. Fighting against British colonial rule, the non-violent struggle for independence was led by Mahatma Ghandi and eventually prevailed in 1947. The landscape of a colonial India was a struggle to maintain native identity and cultural preservation. However, with the Western powers that tore its way through India, a breakthrough revolution was the only solution.

Visiting Singh’s gallery at the Met Breur was both parts thrilling and disappointing. Singh’s photographs struck me as vibrant and brilliant, every last one of them- and for this reason, it was disappointing that his works were not allowed to be photographed. I would have liked to take pictures of the ones I loved the best, both to look back on and reflect upon. However, after a walk-through of the gallery, I had compiled a written list of the photographs that struck me the most. My list reads as:

I distinctly remember viewing the photo titled, Godrej Typewriter Factory, Bombay and feeling truly touched by the emotion Singh was able to capture in this setting. It seemed as though every piece of the composition was deliberate; as though every component of the photograph held meaning. I spent five minutes pondering over this photograph, not being able to fully explain what captivated me so fully except for the feeling that there was an entire story, an entirely different world behind this one photograph. From a personal standpoint, I am always in awe of photographers who are unafraid to capture everyday life in a personal way, in a way that almost intrudes in another individual’s world.

What struck me the most about Singh’s photographs was what I interpreted as his intention to depict the truth in each photograph. Singh didn’t just photograph perfect scenes with smiling people and impeccable surroundings. Instead, Singh photographed people depicting all different emotions and flawed landscapes. I think that Singh’s mission was to tell the truth behind post-colonial India: there would never be perfection- in fact, poverty and poor conditions of living would always exist- but there was also a part of independent India that showed a proud, native culture at its finest. Singh’s photographs were almost like a small breath of relief. I think it was brave of Singh to venture into capturing a picture of India that wasn’t perfect- that might always be what people in an outside world wanted to picture when they thought of the newly independent India.

The words that come to mind when I think of Singh’s photographs are “raw, genuine, unbridled and encompassing. Most importantly, I use the word encompassing because I felt that Singh was able to both capture reality as well as interpret it in his works. I think that there were certain moments where Singh was “interpreting reality” by subtlety framing an image in order to convey a message or a certain standpoint, but I also felt as though a majority of his photographs purely captured reality- captured a small standpoint in a moving world. These moments that he captured were, I feel, too alive to truly be “interpreted” in a deliberate way. I think that Singh felt this and he allowed for events to unfold, for the pace of the world he was standing in to flow around him and he simply captured what he could of it.

Throughout my visit to the “Modernism in the Ganges” exhibit, I took note of the different ways in which photographic art could be used to convey a narrative, keeping in mind my previous experience at the Miskin Gallery. While Sternberger’s photographs kept the focus on key facial expressions of different public figures, the exhibit at the Met was clearly more dedicated to depicting a lifestyle, particularly that of post-colonial India, and its living conditions.

An immediate quality present in all Raghubir Singh’s works was definitely the aspect of rawness in each photograph. Though some photographs, particularly the “boy at the bus stop,” and the “pedestrians” works did include some characters looking at or around the camera, as a general matter, Singh’s works give the impression of observation, or capturing an authentic moment of post-partition Indian society. In a certain sense, Singh’s collection seems like what an average person in India would photograph on their phone, had they had smartphones in his time. Each photograph lacks an organization usually associated with photography, and instead provides a sense of reality, as if the camera was merely a pair of glasses.

One of the ways in which Singh was able to successfully capture the reality of post-colonial India had to do with the diversity of his works. Within the collection, Singh incorporated photographs that captured the poverty related, everyday struggles that the people of India endured on a daily basis. The photograph “Housewife” depicts what seems to be an ordinary housewife, dressed in a most likely ethnic attire, performing some household chore as she stands in a room where rags of clothing are drying near walls with visible accumulations of dust and dirt. As Singh probably intended, this photograph displays poverty and a poor material standard of living. On a lighter note, many works in Singh’s collection, though still exhibit the same tone of poverty, shift the focus to the cultural unity of the people. Works such as the “Ganapati Immersion” are clearly photographs aimed at emphasizing the appreciation and practice of the Indian culture, in spite of the commonality of their poor living conditions. With some light research, I discovered that the people in this photograph are participating in an aquatic tribal dance around a statue of Lord Ganesha, the Lord of Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles of both material and spiritual kinds, as part of the popular Ganesh Festival.

With the kind of observational photos that Raghubir Singh included in this exhibit, incorporating such a diverse depiction of India emphasizes the wholeness of the post-colonial Indian culture, and suggests that though the people experienced unimaginable poverty and subpar living conditions, their culture stayed intact. In fact, as it relates to photography, one thing that we cannot conclude from photographs such as Housewife is the attitude and worldview of the people. Though living was undoubtedly a matter of toil and hard work, something that citizens of the developed world find difficult to imagine, the photographs indeed fail to capture the emotional and spiritual content of post-colonial Indian society, but instead, offer an interpretation of Singh’s take on the state of India after independence from the British.

Ronald Osherov

` Browsing through the Modernism on the Ganges exhibit, I must say, I really enjoyed looking at all the photographs. What first caught my attention was all the color. The photos were so vibrant and attractive. I do enjoy looking at black and white photos but I prefer color photos more. I feel that you can really look at the photos and understand all their detail. The image you are faced becomes multifaceted and exciting.

I did not really know anything about Raghubir Singh going into the exhibit. However, I quickly learned of his story as a photographer. Many of the photographs he took in India were to capture the occurring transformation of the Indian nation.

I noticed from looking at some photos that were contrasting societal elements in some of the photos. In Crawford Market, there were many people crowded around a market place and drinking from cisterns. There was something ancient about this photo. I don’t know particularly what it was, yet the people in the photograph seemed “old world”. It felt a little tribal and third world.

However, there were other photos that showed development and industrialization. These photos depicted the political and socio-economic revolution occurring at the time. Zaveri Bazaar and Jeweller’s Showroom was a photo that depicted an almost more sophisticated India, an India that was changing.

Additionally, there were also those photos that depicted both aspects of the emerging reform. These photos were both third world and also sophisticated. I enjoyed these photos most because they captured both elements of the oncoming society. I thought of these photos as a hatching in some sort. There was something present being shattered in order to create a new beginning.

I feel that Raghubir’s photos were a successful depiction and encompassment of reality. There was something raw about his photographs. His subjects did not pose, rather he captured them via observation. This observation created a natural platform where Raghubir could capture what was occurring in its authenticity. It’s important to take note and ask yourself, “How candid is this image?” I feel that asking yourself this allows you to remove subconscious bias when observing an image. With an unbiased attitude, you can view the photo with an extended lens.

Susan Sontag questions whether or not a photograph “captures reality,” or interprets it. Capturing reality versus interpreting it through a photograph draws focus on the events being framed, and whether or not the photographer chooses to capture a moment in order to convey something else. As I observed Raghubir Singh’s photographs of India, I understood that he was not only trying to capture India’s culture itself, but also to frame and interpret the lives of people who were inhabiting post-partition India.

Raghubir Singh was a phenomenal color street artist, whom focused his photography back into India, after living around the world. Singh used vibrant colors and interesting angles to photograph India and the lives within in. He often took photographs of people he would interact with on the street while he captured the normality of life at that time. In post-partitioned India, many of the religious people in India became refugees due to religious persecution. The lives of everyone in India were uplifted and changed after the British partition.

Through Singh’s photography, he demonstrates the struggle that the people of India faced during this time. The most interesting part of Singh’s photographs to me was the fact that he was able to capture such a difficult time India and shine light onto the everyday struggles, while creating such breath taking photos filled with color and light. In a way, he brought the beauty out from Indias culture, while documenting the lives after the partition.

Through the art of photography, Singh was able to capture single moments of people’s lives and the standard of living, while simultaneously interpreting the overall political and historical climate at the time in India. One of my favorite photographs that I saw at the exhibit was a photograph of a man drinking right out of a metal pot in the midst of chaos, while people pour drinks and find food around him. I love the way that Singh is able to capture the calm in the storm in each of his pictures. He is able to focus on one subject in each photograph, while encapsulating the chaos and struggle around them. While Susan Sontag argues whether or not a photograph can capture a moment or interpret one, I believe that Raghubir has the sheer talent to do both simultaneously in each photograph, by interpreting the overall effects of the partition on India while capturing the moment’s of individuals living there. 

On a Thursday afternoon, I had the opportunity of visiting, and more importantly, analyzing the exhibit “Modernism on the Ganges: The Photographs of Raghubir Singh.” Prior to the visit, I analyze on of Susan Sontag’s articles titled “On Photography,” where she depicts whether or not photographs just capture the moment or if they have a more further analysis to them each and every time. A part of the reading that grabbed my attention was when she states, “While a painting or a prose description can never be other than a narrowly selective interpretation, a photograph can be treated as a narrowly selective transparency.” This phrase drew my attention to the real task at hand, are photographs just moments in time or is there a deeper meaning? Does a photo really tell a story of a thousand words every single time, or does it just leave you speechless, and which is more impactful?

Throughout the exhibit I was presented with photos of the reality of post-colonial India. Each and every photo had no filter on it and was simply raw truth. Each action, movement and mere hand placement of each individual in every photo draws a question of curiosity and a question of reason. Why were there just kids laying around in poverty? Why were some happy or others sad? What do they truly feel about such events? The photo itself represented the time period in a questionable stance, a stance for question. There is no right or wrong answer, no “yes or no” questions and absolutely no “silly questions.” This is the impact of Raghubir Singh’s photography. It draws the concern to reason and the common phrase of “why?” His photograph shapes the country of India in ways that emotions cannot settle on. My favorite of all the photos was a photo of 4 men placed around in a circle, looking to the camera lens, enjoying the delicacy of a popsicle. Sadly, I wasn’t able to take any photos in the exhibit, but this one photo really grabbed my attention and I still think about it to this day. The joy and utter excitement of the men enjoying something as simple as a popsicle. The way they hold it seems as if they’ve never been presented this sugary iced treat before and you can tell the curiosity, yet joy, in their faces. It seems as if all their problems have slipped away and now the only real concern that they have, is this one popsicle. The photograph has so much humor, yet open analysis for questions of any genre and that’s what makes Singh’s photography such a different way of how he interprets the time period and its reality.

Overall, I truly enjoyed the exhibit and was very bummed out to the fact we couldn’t take any photos of the art itself because it would’ve further deepened the meaning I was attempting to portray. Thank you for the opportunity to visit such a wonderful exhibit!

-Kevin Hasa