KOCHI: A touch of mughal art, a vivid capturing of Raja Ravi Varma and above all a deep influence of the famed court photographer of the 19th century - Raja Laladeen Dayal. That is how you can sum up the unique art of Waswo X Waswo exhibited at the Kashi Art Gallery.
Waswo has been residing in Udaipur for the past three years. His love for the arts and crafts of India, especially Udaipur, can be seen in his body of works titled ‘ A studio in Rajasthan,’ which consists of miniature paintings and hand-coloured photographs.
“Udaipur has a rich tradition of crafts and arts. Many of them are involved in adding new dimensions to a photograph by colouring them,” says Waswo. The various facets of life in Udaipur captured in his works catches our eye for their national appeal.
The exhibition, according to him, is “team work.” His ideas have been put to use by Rakesh Vijay and Rajesh Soni, two talented youth from Udaipur. “Most of the time I’m mistakenly assumed to be documenting India.
I’m not a documentary photographer but a fine art photographer,” Waswo clarifies about his self-expressive themes. The themes chosen by Waswo for the miniature paintings by Rajesh are interesting.
Many of them feature Waswo himself and are first hand experiences of a tourist in the country. One of them, a reproduction of the popular Ravi Varma painting ‘Lady with a fruit bowl,’ is amusing; it carries a tourist’s head on a platter, referring to the British Raj that stifled the country. Another interesting work modelled on a Ravi Varma painting has the figure of a tourist in place of goddess Laxmi - a dig at the exploitation of tourists by the local people.
Waswo even emphasises the nagging issue of pollution through many colourful and thought-provoking frames. According to him, the numerous tourists visiting the country aggravate the problem by littering the place with plastic bottles.
“In many cases, a foreigner doesn’t experience real India during a visit to the country. It’s a five star experience they go through,” he says. The paintings make good use of dazzling ornamentation and decorative borders in their resemblance to mughal art.
Waswo’s photograph’s too are striking, some monochrome and some hand coloured by his collaborator Rajesh Soni. Created with hand painted studio back cloths, they resemble the Raj photographic portraits at a glance. A deliberate attempt to present the subjects in a retro manner can be seen in all his photographs. A photograph of Waswo himself, heavily decked in a sari speaks of his sexual preference. But one of the important messages he conveys through his works is the love he has for the country he has made his home. “I went to the US for an exhibition of my work.
But I felt like I was coming home when I returned to India,” he says.
The exhibition will run through December 6.
jijicherian@epmltd.com
