Mak Remissa, A red ant carries a fish scale on a tree leaf at Barkou village, Kandal province (detail , from When the Water rises, the Fish eats the Ant; When the Water recedes , the Ant eats the Fish) , 2005. All photographs: Courtesy of the respective photographers and Noorderficht Photofestival Another Asia unless otherwise noted.

48 ASIAN ART NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007

T he Dutch photofestival, No01'derli­cht, turned its spotlight on Asia that featured photography from South and Southeast Asia under the title Another Asia. Since

Noordedicht began in 1990, it has become one of the most progressive festivals of photography in the world. In alternate years its focus has been on non-Western artists. This has included emerging and es­tablished photographers from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Another Asia offered a sketch of the region through the work of local and Western photographers, and historic images of South and Southeast Asia. Sixty-four photographers from 21 countries were featured in Another Asia, which ended on October 29, 2006.

The biggest curatorial challenge for 2006 was finding work to represent the region comprehensively. While there was usually some form of groundwork available for curator Wim Melis when he had organized other non-Western editions, this time he almost had to sta1t his research for Another Asia from scratch. Thankfully, for some countries featured, Melis had the luxmy of the knowledge of well-known photographers such as Shahidul Alam and Raghu Rai, who have had close-up views of the development of photography in their respective countries, Bangladesh and India.

Amongst the points that he raises in his essay for Noorderlicht, the Magnum photographer Raghu Rai ar­gues that a newspaper with­out good images is "a faceless entity. " "Though the number of pages in newspapers has grown in the past forty years, the space for photographers is shrinking," Rai writes in ref­erence to the situation in In­dia. "The design, the look of the pages, is paramount, but pictures of half-nude models or film stars have replaced serious photographic docu­mentation of social causes and concerns. "

Young curators such as Alex Su partono , from Indonesia , and Sue Hajdu , from Hungary, have also provided Melis with valuable insights on the state of pho­tography in Indonesia and the countries bordering the Mekong respectively. In her essay for Noorderlicht, Hajdu sketches the development of Vietnam's photographic cul­ture through two terms found

Tri Huu Luu, Sri Lanka (from untitled series on Buddhism of South Asia), 1996- 2006.

"which is perhaps the closest equivalent associations." Other than the essay, she to 'photography' but is artistic, intellectual, also presented two sets of work, To Chou and somewhat literary in its connotations," Choufrom Texas (2000) and Miss Peacock and chup hinh, which refers to "practices (2001), in the historical section of Another such as studio portraiture or amateur snaps Asia. The two installations were made and rarely escapes its amateur or artisan from images she had collected from junk

shops in Saigon. "Saigon rHo Chi Minh City] is unique in the Mekong region for having a little street that trades thou­sands of images from personal albums each year, in a process that turns personal mem01y into cultural memory, " writes Hajdu. "These examples of chup hinh photography are purchasable in Saigon pre­cisely because of the social dislocation caused by war and emigration, with many families having to leave their photo albums behind. "

The situation in Cambodia is much bleaker. "Cambodia 's 'photographic blank' continued through the 1980s-people were simply too poor and desperate with daily survival to consider tak­ing pictures, even at important occasions such as weddings and funerals," Hajdu writes. "It is no surprise then, that the Audio-Visual Resource Center planned to open in late 2006, in Phnom Penh, which will gather Cambodia's photo­graphic history from around the world, is being greeted with enthusiasm."

in Vietnamese , nhiep anh, Tri Huu Luu, V ie tnam (from untitled series on Buddhism of South Asia), 1996-2006.

For the discerning viewer, Hajdu 's article pro­vides the perfect introduction to the Vietnamese, Cambo-

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 ASIAN ART NEWS 49

Bui Huu Phuoc, In the Dorm (from Departure) , 2005, gelatin-silver print.

Vandy Rattana, Untitled (from Self-Portraits), 2005-2006.

Zann Huizhen Huang, Sney, 14, a homeless orphan sniffs glue with his buddy in a secluded alley in Siem Reap, Cambodia (from Cambodian Glue Kids) , 2005.

50 ASIAN ART NEWS

dian, and Laotian photographers featured in Another Asia. Often, their approach is unpretentious and fresh, which is inevitable since whatever aesthetic traditions they had before the Vietnam War or Pol Pot's rule have to be reconstructed by contemporary artists. Photography seems particularly well-suited to this end.

T he works of Tri Huu Luu and Bui Huu Phuoc, two Vietnamese photog­raphers, are both steeped in realism, but their motivations are entirely different. Tri Huu Luu's series on

Buddhism in South Asia 0996-2006) has to be viewed within the context of his search for identity within American society, where he eventually went as a refugee in 1989 to escape conscription for the war between Vietnam and Cambodia. Initially, he threw himself into American culture to hide from the things he didn't want to face.

"After the War, my father, who had worked for the US government, was sent to a concentration camp and after he was released, was forced to move to the countryside," recalls Luu , who did his undergraduate and post­graduate studies in photography in America. Life was harsh during the post-war years. Luu 's family would give everything just to have rice and a piece of yam for a meal. "Many people in South Vietnam inevitably saw America like a dreamland where everything was perfect," he says. "But, when I went to the States, it was considered unpopular and shameful to be Vietnamese. "

Only when he took a religion course in college did Luu understand better the faith of his mother and became more assured of his identity. Seven years after his mother's death, he returned to Vietnam and journeyed across Asia to learn about Buddhism. Through the images that he shot in monasteries, Luu is not trying to achieve a specific goal or convey a certain message. "It is more about my learning experience in the Buddhist temples in Asia and how these encounters can be shared with others through photography," says Luu, who is based in New York. In a way, Luu's focus on the manifestations of spirituality in the physical world is a tribute to his mother who worked as a seamstress during the post-war years to provide for her family .

Bui Huu Phuoc's Departure (2005) is steeped in a powerful realism. He was born in Saigon but he didn't leave for America, but stayed in Vietnam where he received his photographic education at the Ho Chi Minh City Cultural Arts College. Here, Phuoc was tutored by Bui Xuan Huy, who had studied at New York's School of Visual Arts. Huy, with his liberal approach to photography, has been a source of inspiration to his students.

While Phuoc cites Garry Winogrand, Nan Goldin, and Diane Arbus as the artists he loves, it is not immediately apparent how they have influenced Departure. Although the series

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007

Above left: Mak Remissa, A red ant carries a dried fish on a string at Preakompeus village; above left: Mak Remissa, Kandal province, A fish chases a red ant that has dropped from a tree into the water at Preakompeus village, Kandal province, (both from When the Water rises, the Fish eats the Ant; When the Water recedes, the Ant eats the Fish), 2005.

is photojournalistic in character, it is also possible to consider the images as stills of a film narrative. The narrative evolves around 22-year-old Toan, a second-year student at the Economic University in Ho Chi Minh City, whom Phuoc chanced upon when he was there for another project. Toan's life characterizes the situation in rural Vi et­nam, where each family can only afford to send one child to school. Therefore, the opportunity for a better life sits firmly on this child's shoulders.

When he first broached the idea, Toan was naturally uneasy. After spend­ing time with Toan, his family, and friends, Phuoc finally got the go-ahead. Most of the works in Departure were taken in Toan's dormitoty and at his family's home. "I would take a seat next to them and talk about their lives," Phuoc says. "I would also follow them around to try to capture them in the best angles. Generally, when you point a camera at Vietnamese people, they will give you a smile." In Vietnam, where the idea of art pho­tography is relatively new, Phuoc's Departure has been greeted with mixed response, some viewers claiming that the work is nothing more than press photography.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007

Similarly, when Mak Remissa and Vandy Rattana showed their projects in Cambodia, the most supportive reception came from the expatriate community. "The

level of education in Cambodia is still low, and without the right education, Cambodians will not be able to give critical ideas to what they have seen," says Vandy Rattana. "We don't even have ten Cambodian photographers who understand art photography. The rest are more interested in photojournalism, which they can do for a living. They are not wrong. "

Rattana's first encounter with pho­tography was through a picture book of Russia that he found in his home. When he was growing up in the 1980s, his family didn't own a television, so the book was one of the few sources of imagery that Rat­tana , 26, had. When he was 24, Rattana's university teacher gave him his first camera, a Yashica FX7 with a 50mm lens, which he still uses today. For a young photographer, Vandy Rattana's Self-Portraits (2005-2006) is surprisingly accomplished. The self-por­traits are done in a "non-traditional way" because the photographer is always absent.

His obsession in recording the mundane reality of his surroundings-family at home, colleagues in his office, and so on- has arisen from his desire to counterbalance the cliched view of Cambodia as a land of monks and beggars. More important, he aims to preserve memory through his work. "Memory is important in Cambodia because we have lost most of our past records and photographs due to war and genocide, " says Rattana. "We have few photographs of how our parents and grandparents lived. Our past identity is confusing, which leaves our current identity in flux."

Although his approach is more metaphorical, Mak Remissa's When the Water rises, the Fish eats the Ant; When the Water recedes, the Ant eats the Fish (2005) is also reflective of the current situation in Cambodia. The title of the project is an an­cient Khmer proverb that is still widely used today. Ants and fish dominate each other depending on the physical environment they are in, but neither species will emerge as the winner in the long run and the equi­librium of nature will be maintained. Using this as a starting point, Remissa returned to the suburbs of Phnom Penh, where he

ASIAN ART NEWS 51

Sherman Ong, Untitled (from Monsoon- The Mechanics of Rain, Mobility and Intervention) , 2005.

Sherman Ong, Untitled (from Monsoon - The Mechanics of Rain, Mobility and Intervention) , 2005.

was a child, to observe the activities of ants and fish-the main protagonists of the project. He was searching for a way to document their activities so that the images would serve as metaphors for the Cambodian society. Fascinated by the similarities in their ways of life and that of human beings, 36-year-old Remissa conceived a series of images and made sketches of them. Shooting under natural light, his aim was to attract the viewers' attention with strong colors, unusual compositions, and the fascination of see­ing something so small up-close.

Having survived the Khmer Rouge and living today in a society where changes of power can still be swift and dangerous, Remissa hopes that his viewers will treat one another with respect and not seek to dominate over people. "Today, we struggle to main­tain our status at work and at home," says Remissa , who has worked as a photojournalist for the past ten years. "We strive to rise in power at every op­portunity but it is always done at the expense of others. Status and power are the ultimate goals . [But] unlike animals, we have a choice and hopefully we can make a difference."

L aotian photographer and tele­vision producer Vannaphone Sitthirath's Growing Up in the Mekong (2004) documents the lives of Laotian and Cambodian

children living in Vientiane, Phnom Penh, and the towns bordering Thailand, which is seen as the land of opportuni­ties. Almost all of them are victims of exploitation or drug abuse. Some sell their blood to stay alive; others end up in Bangkok as prostitutes or beggars. The simplicity in her photographic approach serves to highlight the broader issues of child trafficking and inequitable eco­nomic development across borders.

To depict the children's lives, Sit-

Sue Hajdu, Miss Peacock, 2001 , installation detail. Vannaphone Sitthirath, This boy stands under the bridge that goes from Poipet to Aranyaprathet (from Growing up in the Mekong) , 2004.

52 ASIAN ART NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007

thirath has drawn on the memories of her own childhood in Vientiane. While her life was also a struggle growing up in the Laotian capital, she had more space to play in and there were fewer cars on the streets. More important, there w as no such thing as child beggars or street kids. "Today, technology has advanced and our GDP is higher, and yet, we have more child beggars and more children with no access to education ," says Sit­thirath , while noting that the Mekong countries have also changed rapidly in the past five years. "What has happened?"

Within the context of Another Asia, Sitthi­rath's work has been particularly useful in provid­ing the backdrop to stories of the Mekong told by other photographers at the festival, an example of which is Singaporean photographer Zann Huizhen Huang's Cambodian Glue Kids (2005).

Wim Melis, while commenting on the differences in approach between Western and local photographers in South and Southeast Asia, suggests that Asian photographers at the festival have addressed issues that are less o bvious to a foreign photographer. Although her desire to photograph the child addicts at Siem Reap is no less genuine than that of Sitthirath, Huang's series presents a somewhat expected view of Cambodia. It is understandable: Huang is from Singapore and Cambodia is as foreign to her as any photogra­pher from Europe or America. Moreover, when she did the project at Siem Reap, Huang was only two months into her photographic career.

After working as an English teacher for several years, Huang made the career switch when she went to Aceh to document the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. Largely self-taught, Huang learnt through constant practice. Today, she is one of the few Singaporeans working independently and almost exclusively in the genre of documentary photography. "Asia is developing very quickly and I want to depict the marginalized in the face of modernization, " says Huang, who is now rep­resented by the New York-based World Picture News. "The sight of such young kids, amidst non­chalant adults and tourists who pass them by as they sniff glue in broad daylight, simply wrenched my heart. What other photographers have done before me will not affect the way I shoot Cambo­dia. When I feel I must do something, I just put myself wholeheartedly into it without worrying too much about the outcome."

S herman Ong'sMonsoon- The Mechanics of Rain, Mobility and Intervention (2005) shares Huang's intuitiveness in terms of execution. The Malaysia-born photog­rapher actually shot the impressionistic

series in 40 minutes with a Nikon D70 when he was in Hanoi for another engagement. Ong was in a vehicle when the sky turned dark. As he headed back towards his hotel, a hailstorm and vety heavy rain followed to pound the city. His decision to record the phenomenon was imme­diate. Reviewing the result, he realized that the series is very much in line with his interest as a

Pablo Bartholomew, Man with Purse, (from Early Work) , 1975-1982. Image courtesy of Pablo Bartholomew/Netphotograph.com and Noorderlicht Photofestival Another Asia.

Pablo Bartholomew, Photo Studio (from Early Work) , 1975-1982. Image courtesy of Pablo Bartholomew/Netphotograph .com and Noorder/icht Photofestival Another Asia.

filmmaker and photographer. "Throughout the Rajesh Vora, Untitled (from Traveling Photo Studio), 2000- 2004. Image courtesy of Rajesh Vora and history of art, creators have always been trying Kulsum Studio and Noorderlicht Photofestival Another Asia.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 ASIAN ART NEWS 53

Between Art And Documentary Noorderlicht Photofestival curator W i m Melis has faced innumerable challenges in establishing

Another Asia. Is there an Asian approach to photography? This is one of the major questions that

Wim Melis has attempted to answer. Recently he met with Asian Art Newss Zhuang Wubin to talk

about the challenges of Another Asia) photography in general) and some of the differences between

Western and Asian photographers ) approaches to photography.

Zhuang Wubin: What are the curatorial challenges of Another Asia?

Wim Melis : The biggest challenge was discovering the work. I've looked at other non-Western continents for previ­ous festivals and usually there was some groundwork available to start me off, for instance books or organizations that could point me in the right direction. In this case, there was almost nothing, as this is the first comprehensive show of the region. It took a lot of digging, and I'm sure there's still work that hasn't been unearthed yet.

Photography is a very young art form, and the infrastructures of a mature art form are not there yet in most countries. That's one reason for the lack of research. The second is that we have presented this year's edition as one region, but it is really a set of multiple regions with enormous diversity, making it necessary to build not one, but a number of research networks.

The "another" component of the festival was less of a challenge, because it comes naturally to us. We always try to find work that's on the border between art and documentary, work that tells the stories behind headlines. This is the general approach of Noorderlicht and the result always provides a different way of looking at issues than the one presented in newspapers.

How do the views of local and Western photographers differ in this year's festival? Does the historical section of Another Asia provide counterbalance to these views?

If you compare the Asian and Western sections, you'll see that the difference is in the level of intimacy. You can sense in the works of local photographers that they are photographing an environment that is natural to them. They look at smaller issues, or issues that have a deeper layer­ing-things that a Westerner will not notice immediately. In contrast, you'll see that the Western photographers-even those with Asian roots-look at a world that is not their own. They tend to look at what is dif­ferent from their experiences, the directly visible issues.

54 ASIAN ART NEWS

Although their concern and sincer­ity are the same, they express themselves differently from Asian photographers. Interestingly, most of the photographers in the Western section have stronger-than­average ties with the region-some have Asian backgrounds, others have moved there permanently.

As for the historical component, it works more as enrichment to the festival. We've tried to show work in this section that adds to our understanding of Asian history and traditions. But since it is smaller than the other sections, you can only scratch the surface. One thing we did was a special focus on portraiture, showing its tradition over the years. This is interesting, since portraiture is always present at the start of the development of photography, and that it shows how people like to imag­ine themselves in photos.

Having looked at the region through this tripty ch format, what are y our v iew s of Another Asia?

I think it would be too presumptuous of me to make a social statement on the region as a whole. Of course, I have opinions, but I'm not a sociologist or a politician. And while I have researched photography, I don't feel that it's my place to make such general statements.

However, looking at the devel­opment of photography, I see people discovering new ways of expression. In a country such as India, the development of photography is close to maturity. In other countries, people are still taking the first steps, and I'll be ve1y curious to see how things develop in future . What I see are photographers who are intimately con­cerned with the world they live in and are trying to find new ways of telling us about that. There's freshness in their approach that's not so easy to find in the West any­more, where eve1ything has already been done and where everyone's mind is filled with a billion images.

Looking at the Asian photographers at Noorderlicht, do you think there is an Asian approach to photography? If not, do you feel that the West heavily

influences Asian photographers?

I think influence from the West is inevi­table. Westerners were the first who looked for good photographers from the region, thereby stimulating the development of photography. You 'll also see that the more accomplished photographers from Asia have already been in touch with Western photography. Apart from ChobiMela, there are a few small Asian photofestivals that have been initiated by Westerners. But that's normal in a global world-external stimuli leading to the exploration of one's path.

I'm not sure if there 's an Asian perspective though. There is certainly an insider's perspective, a more intimate way of looking at things. If there is anything dif­ferent in Asian photography from the other non-Western regions we have featured, it is the contrasts you see eve1ywhere. The societies are diverse, both internally and amongst themselves, and so is the pho­tography. While the other regions have a certain similarity in their photographic approach, for instance the strong catholic visual legacy in Latin America , there is no common denominator in Asia.

Perhaps one ofthe most significant cu­ratorial decisions for Another Asia w as to leave out China. What is the reason?

The reason for not including China is because of the huge differences in pho­tographic development when compared to other countries. There is an incredible amount of good photography coming out of China now, and there have been numerous exhibitions that focus solely on Chinese photography. Because we want to show 'another' Asia, it is better not to include China. The country has already been featured too frequently and people know what's going on there. Better to de­vote the limited space to works that people don't know yet and to give lesser-known photographers a chance. That's always the idea behind our non-Western editions: give photographers a new platform, surprise the audience with something they didn't know, and provide them with a new way of looking at these societies. Give them some food for thought.

JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2007

to depict the relation between man and nature ," says Ong, who is now based in Singapore. "Realizing the transient nature of our existence, human beings always try to control the environment so that we can live in a more predictable manner, but there's always a limit as to what we can do. "

According to Ong, the monsoon governs the economy, harvesting seasons, even the beach resorts in Asia. On the literal level , his series shows how humans are forced to be small in the face of nature. But the style in which the series was shot also implies the psychological impact that the monsoon has on Asians. Ong's work feels rather open-ended, which is perhaps what he means when he notes, "the preva­lence of things left unsaid is characteristic of Asian creators. "

Amongst the photography from other countries featured in A not her Asia, that from the Subcontinent was the subject of much deserved attention.

Inevitably, given the region's diversity, the range of approaches and issues presented by local photographers was truly bewildering. Pablo Bartholomew's

Early Work (1975-1982) , for example , offers an affecting view of India's fringe societies shot more than 25 years ago. It was Bartholomew's way of "connecting with the Western world that was looking to the East, post-Vietnam." He pictured the junkies in the sleazy tourist ghettos of Delhi. In Bombay, he documented the opium dens, red-light districts, and eunuch quarters while continuing his work in the film and advertising industry.

As a young photographer, Bar­tholomew took pictures to satisfy his inner need. "This need can now be defined as having an affinity for the people whom I photographed and reacting to the very safe middle-to-upper-class background that I came from," says Bartholomew, 47. "It is the pleasure of engagement with my untrained eye, the rush from the discovery of a medium, and the gratification from people whom I had photographed. "

Bartholomew first presented the series in Delhi, in 1980, and in Bombay, in 1981. The shows were "path-breaking," according to the photographer, because nobody had previously engaged the fringe in such a manner. To show a small part of these photographs in this year's

Noorderlicht serves as an important marker to Bartholomew's illustrious career, during which he has won the World Press Photo Award twice and served on the jury in 1999 and 2000. By reassessing his early images, Bartholomew hopes to find the direction that he will take in the future.

Conceptual work from the region was also well represented at Noorderlicht by Pushpamala N's The Ethnographic Series (2000-2004) and Annu Palakunnathu Mat­thew's Bollywood Satirized 0999-2000). The Ethnographic Series actually belongs to a larger project entitled Native Women of South India - Manners and Customs. In the 19th century, there were numerous women's studios, zenanas, in cities such as Hyderabad and Kolkata, where Indian women would be photographed with painted sets: such studios were often run by British female photographers. Native Wom­en of South India is a photo-performance in which Bangalore-born Pushpamala and British photographer Clare Arni play the protagonists of the zenana to explore the history of photography as a tool of ethnographic documentation. The original intention was quite modest: to recreate 15 photographs of South Indian women base. j

Pushpamala N. and Clare Arni, Untitled (from The Ethnographic Series), 2000-2004. From Native Women of South India- Manners and Customs project.

Pushpamala N. and ClareArni, Untitled (from The Ethnographic Series), 2000-2004. From Native Women of South India- Manners and Customs project.

JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2007 ASIAN ART NEWS 55

Anay Mann, Ravi , Amaar, a nd I m ra n (from Generation in Transition) , Anay Mann, Neelakshi with her family (from Generation in Transition) , 2000-2004. 2000-2004. Image courtesy of Anay Mann/Photoink and Noorderlicht Image courtesy of Anay Mann/Photoink and Noorderlicht Photofestival Another Asia. Photofestival Another Asia.

on images collected from various sources, the earliest of which is a 16th century miniature painting of the Yogini, a mythi­cal sorceress who traps unwary travelers, while the most recent one is a 2002 news photograph of two chain snatchers holding up police name slates.

In a way, Annu Palakunnathu an arranged marriage but instead to pursue Matthew's Bollywood Satirized echoes photography in America. Pushpamala's desire to reflect on the feudal "When I started photography, I nature of the Indian society. However, un- wanted to be a photojournalist and depict like Pushpamala, who staged all her images issues surrounding the lives of South Asian physically, Matthew made use of digital women, but my personality is not that of technology to reinterpret Bollywood-movie a journalist, and so I searched for a way posters, which traditionally depict women to address the issues in the manner that

''The idea was to deconstruct as "seductive beings" and "men as heroes I am comfortable," says Matthew. "The these familiar images by re- who are able to conquer them. " Her aim is stereotypes and melodrama conveyed by constructing them as closely to challenge the gender roles thrust upon Bollywood posters seemed perfect to get as possible ," Pushpamala Indian women. Born in England, Matthew my message across-by couching ideas and says. The first shoot would returned to India when she was ten. She issues in humor. "

recreate the source image with very little left India at 28 after deciding not to have Despite clothing the issues in satire, variation. But with subsequent ..---~--- - --....--.'!!!"1"'- reactions to her work have been shoots, the protagonists would mixed. In Bangalore, Matthew improvise , sometimes with Arni had the opportunity to share even joining Pushpamala within her personal experiences with the frame. The improvisations a group of women in an open became more elaborate and the and frank discussion. However, project developed into different there were also viewers who parts , one of which became The simply would not talk to her. "In Ethnogmphic Series. America, when my work was ex-

The series acts as a "sly" hibited at a university, the Indian commentary on anthropological students protested as they felt studies, in which native subjects that India should not be shown are rooted as specimens. Ac- in this light, " says Matthew. "Just cording to Pushpamala, in the because I love my homeland 19th century, European anthro- does not mean I can't be criti-pologists ' interests in codification cal of it. " actually made the Indian society Interestingly , the usual even more hierarchical. But her perception with a project such project, when seen in its entirety, as Bollywood Satirized is that it suggests that both the British and is probably more urgent to show the Indians were guilty of using it in India than to the Indian photography to confirm stereo- communities in England or the types, with the latter obsessed in United States. However, from forming a national identity. "India Matthew's experience, it is in fact is so diverse that people identify the immigrants who tend to be each other by their ethnic corn- more traditional than their rela-munities and their stereotypical tives in India. Therefore, both characteristics," says Pushpamala. sets of audiences are important "People at the center or at the to the artist. top would see the p eople at On the other hand, it is the margins with the colonizers' tempting to view the work of gaze-that they are lazy' unci vi- An nu Palakunnathu Matthew, Dowry Violence (from Bollywood Satirized) , Raza Kazim and his wife Rashida lized, dirty, and criminal." 1999-2000. Raza in relation to Pakistani so-

56 ASIAN ART NEWS JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2007

ciety. But Kazim, who is a for­mer communist party member, lawyer, musician, and founder of the Sanjan agar Institute of Philosophy and Arts (SIPA) in Lahore, is quick to dispel the notion. In fact, he has never used photography or music "as an instrument of political com­munication or social activism. " "I ~:~~r~gs~: p~~e:~a~

of significantly activating the viewers' feelings and ideas ,"

Kazim says. "When permutations and combinations of ordinary things or people-typically on a small scale-trigger my own feelings and ideas, I'll tty to see if I can package them in a manner which will serve as a catalyst for the viewer to make various pictures in his or her mind."

The aim is to use photographs as "dynamic symbols."

"In order to become a dynamic symbol, a photo­graph must be easy to view and recognize ," said Kazim in a 2004 interview with Pakistani newspaper Daily Times. "It must not have any stark notes and its appeal must not be in terms of wonderment for the objects depicted, which is characteristic of pictures printed in magazines like National Geographic. "

Therefore , the empha­sis is not on the message or intention of the photographer. It is the latitude of possibilities experienced by the viewers from his images that Kazim is more concerned with. He calls

I am very tired! Karachi-Pakistan. From Portraits, 1979-2003. Image courtesy of Rash id a Raza and Raza Kazim and Noorderlicht Photofestival Another Asia.

Today, girls who have a basic education run SIPA's School of Photography. Under the guidance of Kazim and his w ife, the girls have learnt to develop photographs and understand the thought pro­cesses behind the act of mak­ing pictures. They have also learnt to take photos in various workshops conducted by inter­national photographers and the couple. Portraits 0979-2003), a selection of image by Raza Kazim and Rashida Raza, was shown in the historical section of Another Asia.

it the "oriental approach," which can also be found in classical poetry from the East. This is in line with the philosophy at the

SIPA School of Photography, where the craft is pursued as a medium for emotional and intellectual expression, and as a tool for the refinement of the mental process.

Zhuang Wubin is a Singapore-based pho­tographer and arts writer.

Rashida Raza and Raza Kazim , Darkness at noon Lyari (Karachi slum), (from Portraits), 1979-2003.

Rashida Raza and Raza Kazim, Is there a tomorrow? Afghan refugee mother and child in Pakistan during Soviet occupation, (from Portraits} , 1979-2003.

JANUARY /FEBRUARY 2007 ASIAN ART NEWS 57