KOCHI: When veteran American photographer Bob Duncan was walking about in Fort Kochi, he saw stalls selling bright-coloured powder, similar to those used during the festival of Holi. This gave him an idea—to photograph people with this powder smeared on them.But when he approached locals, they responded that Holi is the festival of north India, not Kerala. Eventually, Bob was able to persuade a Spanish woman to take part in the project. For the shoot, he placed her in front of black velvet cloth. The setting was behind a homestay, where another Malayali friend and his family were watching. Soon, they agreed to model for the shoot too.
So, Bob picked their children, Ann Mary Bejoy and Ainn Lionel, to be his colourful subjects. While the girl had a blast, Ainn looksed a tad bit unhappy, probably because he got some powder stuck in his eyes. In the frame, Ainn’s face is smeared with red, his hair purple, with bits of green on his neck and upper arms.
For a grown-up face, Bob chose Faizal who sells lemon juice. He had dreadlocks, a flowing beard, a thick moustache and bushy eyebrows and was quite popular. He reminded Bob of the Aghoris in Varanasi with ash smeared on their faces. According to Bob, the shots brought out a different dimension in people. Pictures from the project, named ‘Cochin Colours’, is on display at the Kashi Art Gallery in Fort Kochi till February 26.
For the past five years, he has been working on a project called ‘Noir Portraits’, where he made people clad in outlandish costumes pose for pictures. He organised shoots in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Madrid. Over time, he has come to realise that wearing exotic, alien make-up sometimes relaxes a subject, because they are aware that nobody is focusing on their real faces and features. “Because they are relaxed, their true character comes out. Especially the emotions in their eyes, if you look close,” he says.
Ironically, he instructs his models not to smile. “When people smile, we only see the smile. When they stop, many layers of their personality begin to surface,” Bob says. “Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ would not be as intriguing if she was smiling. In classical paintings, people rarely smile, and so you can keep looking at them, detecting multiple moods. This is what we see in real people, every day,” he adds.
He cites a photograph by Richard Avedon of Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe as an example, where she looks tired, exhausted and pensive. “Richard did a session with her all afternoon, where she was smiling and everything was wonderful. He asked to photograph her even after the session was over, and that is how he captured a depressed Marilyn in a frame,”Bob says.
Meanwhile, Bob, who came to Fort Kochi for just three weeks, has clocked 10 months now. Many years spent in great cities like New York and Paris, seems to have exhausted this artist. “Most cities are loud, stressful and tiresome. I have never lived in a small village like Fort Kochi before. It is soft and calm. People smile at you. They say ‘Good morning’ to me,” he says. He is planning to go to Varanasi next, to continue the project using Holi colours. He also plans to bring out a photo book on the subject. Art aficionados can follow Bob’s work on his Instagram handleS @duncanfotos and @duncan_faces.