What have we here?[break]
Today’s world is dominated by 24-hour news agenda and rapid turnover of news stories leading to a photographic space that is dictated by this discourse, with photographers forced to respond by producing time-pressured, one-picture-tells-all photos. Since the 1990s, political events have dominated the agenda in Nepal and allowed photographers no other choice but to follow this agenda if they want their work published. But here in The Constant Change, we have something different.
A new young generation of photographers is engaging in the documentary traditions of the concerned photographer, investing time and themselves in stories they believe are important and promoting such values as hope and courage. What we are seeing is authorship and point of view being incorporated into their work.
They are following the humanist approach, rooted in the social, as a way perhaps of rediscovering and celebrating human dignity after more than 10 years of insurgency and political instability and are trying to make sense of their world. They are embracing the revelatory nature of photography and using its power “to take us there.”
Many of the genres for which documentary is known are represented here: the engaged photographer, the road trip, portraiture, and the personal story.
Kishor Sharma has photographed the Raute tribe of western Nepal. In his text, he describes the hearsay and superstition “they have human sacrifices every 12 years” surrounding them but his photos show us a quiet and gentle invitation to consider more fully the lives of this tribe and the ignorance and misunderstandings about them. One thinks here of the work of Sebastio Salgado and his project “Migrations”: inner beauty and the unsaid drawing us in.
Nirman Shrestha’s photos are a moving portrayal of the daily struggle of his mother’s fight against breast cancer and his family’s response as the cancer brings it problems and tensions. They are suffused with a subtle humor, warmth and affection: there is no self pity.
As well as showing the family’s struggle, he is also showing us his own struggle, pushing himself with the intrusiveness of the work to question himself, his own being perhaps, his own mortality.
Interestingly, there are only two female photographers amongst the twelve, but they have produced distinct projects.
Nayantara Gurung Kakshapati has used portraiture and survey to make a strong statement about identity. These are bold, in your face and up front pictures, stripped of any secondary message by the use of a white “neutral” background and demanding to be questioned, reminding us of the series “In the American West” by Richard Avedon.
In his work, Avedon said that he thought all portraits, and especially his own, were “opinions.” The photographer’s eye here does not seek merely to represent: It looks to persuade.
The second story by Uma Bista is about a single mother, and her photos demonstrate clearly a personal involvement. Is this personal involvement, a fear of how would she cope if it happened to her? There is much enquiry, empathy and understanding in this work. We are part of the struggle of this woman, her hopes, dreams and fears.
The photographs are not literal and ask us to deal with feelings. One photo in particular encapsulates this struggle and is referenced by Dorothea Lange and her photo “Migrant Mother.” In Uma’s photo, we see the mother cradling and feeding her child in the room that is home, a sparse, somewhat bare environment. In this one image, we feel the distillation of the mother instinct, the protection, the nurturing, and the hopes of the mother in spite of all life has thrown at her.
In spite of the prophesiers of doom calling of the death of photojournalism and documentary photography, these twelve photographers demonstrate that it is fully alive and that it can carry all the complexity of a photographer’s musings upon the nature of culture and human experience.
These photographers are demonstrating that they are socially aware and asking themselves questions. This is but a start, and I would venture to suggest that many of these stories are unfinished and would encourage the photographers to continue their explorations.
Do I have a favorite story? Yes, I do, but that would be telling. I urge you to visit the exhibition, buy the book and make up your own mind.
Hampton is a photographer, lecturer, educator and a passionate mountain biker.
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