CHENNAI: Wouldn’t you mock someone who says, ‘I am a photographer but I don’t use a digital camera or a DSLR’? What if the person is actually well-known, steadfast with his love for aesthetics and photography? The following excerpts of our chat with Yannick Cormier will change your doubts to awe.
You are French, yet you have been living in Chennai for 11 years now? Why?
Around 2005, I was sent to India by the agency I worked for. It was a one-year assignment but I couldn’t leave. I had fallen in love with the country. So, when the agency coaxed me to come back, I quit. In 2007, I started my own agency called Trikaya Photos to showcase works of emerging photographers. My own photos are an aesthetic testament of traditions that are endangered in modern India. I got hooked on to the culture and rituals that I came across here.
From being an engineer, how did you become a photographer?
It started in the late 90s when I was 25-years old. I didn’t like engineering and so I quit, with no back-up plan or anything. I worked odd jobs to make some money. One time, when I was out, I questioned myself, ‘Who are you, Yannick? What do you want to do?’ The answer came almost instantaneously. I bought a camera and it just began. It wasn’t a childhood dream. I had hardly done it before but I was always a fan of visual art. As a child, I would go to the museum to look at artefacts and I would watch cinema. So, I guess it channeled to photography. I worked in the fashion industry for three years to learn techniques before turning into documentary photography.
What are you documenting?
The cultures, traditions and rituals of the Dravidians have mesmerised me. There are people who are still trying to hold on to it but for many it’s just a story now. I travel to different villages in cities in the South to capture the traditions that are slowly being forgotten. Some of my favourite festivals include Arulmigu Koothandavar Thirukoil, Koovagam festival and Mayana Kollai in Melmalayanur. I plan to publish a photo book too.
So, why an old school camera?
Because the question of disappearing rituals that I ponder over is aesthetical. Black and white is a mere abstraction. When you look at my pictures, you can’t put a date to it, making it timeless. It evokes emotions and that is exactly what I want. Black and white has that ability.
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Surrealistic by Nature, an exhibition curated by Yannick Cormier, as a part of the Chennai Photo Biennale, showcases the blurring of reality and poetry through the eyes of internationally renowned photographers. The exhibition is open from Feb 27 to Mar 14 at Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore, from 3 pm.