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Journalism of Courage
NOVEMBER 9: Catherine Yass looks exhausted. Not that the city’s sweltering heat isn’t to blame, but the primary reason for such a jaded state is because of her whirlwind tour around Mumbai’s theatres and film studios. Having shot Shah Rukh Khan (who she thought was "courteous and extremely generous with his time") at Film City a few days ago, and just back from a rigorousphoto-session at New Empire theatre, she momentarily tucks herself into acouch at The British Council, before she again sets off to fix up another appointment. This time with Amitabh Bachchan himself.
So, what’s an artist photographer like her doing shooting Bollywood’s topfilm stars? Well, she’s just getting her "art" together for the IndianTriennale to be held in the four metropolitan cities early next year. "Ihave been invited to represent the UK at this exhibition in January 2001,where artists from across the world will converge and get to show theirwork," says the 36-year old London-based artist photographer. Having been fascinated by the variegated colours, costumes and the dances on-screen, she choose the Indian film industry as her topic for the exhibition–something that she thinks might best represent the country.
Hindi films and the culture are not being entirely new to her — she nestles in an Indian dominated community in London. She has seen a few movies in the past. In fact, our lady just got another dose of the song and dance routine at the screening of Mohabbatein, which she thought was great fun, although terribly long.
Shooting Bollywood’s best isn’t the only reason for Yass’ brief visit to the city. With already two books to her credit — Portraits andImages and Open Spaces, she will have a slide lecture on her works at The British Council on Friday. "Portraits is a series of work that I have done in the past four or five years. As the name suggests, these are portraits of people in London’s art circles — critics, art dealers and gallery owners, who have displayed my work or those people that I have been associated with," she says.
What is unique about these photographs, though, are the contrasting coloursthat are evident throughout her work. All done without the help ofcomputers and other fancy gizmos, Yass’ photographs have brightcolours which she displays against light boxes and with the help of a bluenegative, to give it an abstract look. Her latest book is similar instyle, except that it doesn’t have portraits — just images and open spaces.Best described as a combination of dreams and reality, the backgroundswhich are at times hazy and merged, help accentuate the figures and create a sense of fantasy.
But for now her search — from South Mumbai to Filmcity — is on for obliging Bollywood stars. The more the better.
