Shilpi Jogen Choudhurir Chokhe Photography  
Interviewer: Atanu Pal - Writing: Madhuparna Chattopaddhay, From “Photography”

Atanu: Sculpture as a 3-d medium enjoys better privilege than photography and painting because of their two-dimensionality. How can we counter this?
 
Jogen: I would rather prefer the term “art” because every art is an expression of multiple art forms which are unified together under the focusing media rendering the conglomeration of forms into one unified form. Take for instance dance. A dancing performance naturally is an expression and integration of multiple inherent art forms like the story, the drama, the colour, the sculptural quality, the figural perception, the dimensions. You can look elsewhere – for in stance the Muslim “Tajias” ,or the multicoloured pebbles beside the archetypal rural banyan tree – you can trace the expression of art amidst the multiple threads in a culture and go way back to the pre-historic era. The most contemporary form of this shared human, historical and cultural perspective on art is the Cinema – the most happening artistic space for multimedia art.
 
Atanu: The next concern is regarding “display”. We all know that presentation is one of the central issues in any photographic exhibition. How you should present your work, which arrangement renders the required light to the individual photos, what kind of music should be played- all these goes in the making of a quality exhibition. Sadly though, most exhibitions in our country are very unprofessional. How do you review this scenario in the context of your experience in various international exhibitions?
 
Jogen: Presentation is a very important aspect. To me the most important thing is a central rhythm [thematic, idealistic, practical whatever] which locates the individual frames under the central locus as well as balancing the “outside/external” elements like spatial adjustment and music.
 
Atanu: Our next question is another technical one. In photography we are generally handicapped by a technical disadvantage. Like we can blur out the tree in front of us – but cannot really omit it from the frame unless we take a different stance – suppose we change the angle. This automatically changes the frame [of reference]. The painter does have an advantage here. What is your opinion on this?
 
Jogen: I don’t think this to be a hindrance at all. May be some technical adjustments inside the machine [camera] can wipe out this problem. There is no contest between a painting and photography. Both are art forms.
 
Atanu: In the present era there is an ongoing struggle between Black and White and Colour photography. The colour is making a very strong statement and is even threatening to replace the Black and White. Some countries have already launched the “Save Black and White” principle. Suppose you are visiting a gallery which hosts both colour and BW sections. Where will you enter first?
 
Jogen: My preference will be for the BW. Not that I’ve anything radically against the Colour but the Colour have a technical disadvantage – the photographer cannot control the “degree” of colour on the frame, which we painters can. BW on the other hand depends more on the division between tonality and spatial adjustment than actual colour.
 
Atanu: We would like to listen to something on your interest on photography.
 
Jogen: I was seriously interested in photography once. I’ve collections like the famous “Family of Man” in the 50s and many issues of the “Life” magazine. We once thought of arranging a joint exhibition in the CIMA Art Gallery with both photos and paintings by people like Vikash and me. Now I take photography more casually but I believe with little manipulation I’ve some good enough photos in store. I do have the advantage of being located in a related but different branch of art. However, I don’t have much technical knowledge.
 
Atanu: Sir please inform us something on composition.
 
Jogen: Composition is the most central and the most fundamental aspect of any art. The great paradox is that at the root of composition there is abstraction. When I take class I give the students a very simple example of a wall. I ask them to decorate the wall. This way you get ten different compositions from a ten member class – some symmetrical and some de-symmetrical. These de-symmetrical ones need to be arranged with utmost care because here you are seeing something unusual yet something that generates positive sensation inside you brain. This sensation is probably generated by different forms of space-warping – an object inside the frame is probably directing your vision inside the frame, another probably projecting from inside to outside while a third one may curve out from the centre/inside to the periphery/outside. Hence the total frame creates an assemblage of different types of binary spaces – negative and positive, inside and outside, mathematically concrete and abstract. All these along with the feeling, the texture, and the environment creation formulate the underlining principle of great art - a total spatial tension which creates the jerking sensation inside the brain.
 
Atanu: Does portrait – in both painting and photography – render some limitation in the context of the total space of art?
 
Jogen: Portrait painting has so far a definite advantage over portrait photography. The history of painting from the Renaissance to Rembrandt to Van Gauge’s Impressionism to later Cubism and Photo-realism – painting has undergone continual changes in terms of artistic perspective and technical adventurism. Photography I’m afraid has to counter certain device-related hindrances in terms of bringing in perspective changes. The bottom-line is however to portray the individual not as an isolated being but as one of the representatives of his/her spatio-temporal location. You cannot portray the modern man like the first painter or the first photographer did. The times have changed and we must accept that.
 
Atanu: One recent trend in photography is to apply colour, do cutting and pasting, merge different photos together etc. Do you think this trend is leading photography more towards commercialization?
 
Jogen: Any form needs to establish its own ground/location first before it can turn towards art. An architectural work is primarily a space for living – then an artwork. Similarly a design is a design first – then it is an art. Any form needs to be sincere and honest to itself first before turning to something else. A very common and striking example is newspaper photography. They must convey the message before anything else. However don’t you see frequent examples when newspaper photography becomes very high quality photography? Hence I prefer the term priority to commercialization. This is the answer to the first part of your question.
Saying that, I don’t see anything wrong in mixing genres if the artist remains honest to his/her central medium and locus of expression. Yes you can apply colour, do cutting and pasting. Yes you can merge the negatives of different photos together. Why not? This is the age of technological advancement. If you don’t use technology you are certain to lag behind.
 
Atanu: Annanada Shankar Roy once said that the artist’s life is very similar to the military regime. You need great need discipline – whether you are in mood you must work regularly. Some artists on the other hand believe in the mood factor more. What should be the ideal routine for an artist in his daily life?
 
Jogen: I must say the entire thing is too much relative to even reach a general hypothesis. Every creator has different type of activity. Taogre for example was a prime example of discipline. Nandalal Basu was another example – he would at least make a few strokes with the pain-brush whether he has any subject or not. Saying that, some artists probably prefer to work in a relatively relaxed atmosphere. Personally I feel disciplining actually enhances the creative potential. Effort always helps in fine-tuning.
 
Atanu: Do you believe in the concept of workshop outings?
Jogen: Sure I do. Workshops may not be the space where the actual work is produced- but they are important nonetheless since they are the space of socialization. They release the actual performing tension; bring in fresh perspectives, insight, information and experience which help the later work in some way or the other. They also open the door to newer opportunities and artistic sharings.
For photography workshops, I must say they need more variations and more interactions. For instance a group of 30 photographers should concentrate on 30 different topics – men, moods, insects, or structural photography, graphics, light and shades etc. This way the total production becomes significant. Also they should work in interactive set-ups. For instance photography can be used supremely in the theater arena through means of projection I’ve never seen any such attempts in Kolkata. Collaboration between photographers and other artists can create wonders. An example is the collaboration between Raghu Rai and Himmat Sau – his sculptor friend. I’ve a friend in Mumbai who uses paintings to decorate the stage, Jyoti Bhat – another friend of mine has done merged photography with traditional folk art to create a unique blend of interior decoration. There are numerous other instances.
The bottom-line is to be sincere and honest to your work. Nothing evolves out of thin air. And this does not necessarily need to be fashionable. What you need is sincerity to yourself and your work and then are contributing to your cannon, thus to the overall cultural geography. Only that way you can produce sincere work in any area and establish the foundation for a future culture. Einstein formulated his famous theory at the age of 26 while working as a clerk, right?
 

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