When in India, it’s impossible for any visitor to not pick the camera and capture the world around him. The country’s visual appeal makes it the most photographed country in the world,” Alain Willaume tells us. Precisely the reason why he keeps coming back. Alain is in town to launch ‘Mad in India’, a collection of photographs by 12 French photographers of Tendance Floue (translates into ‘out of focus tendency’!) group. Earlier Meyer, a participant in the venture, was to do the task but he fell seriously ill before his visit.The coordinator of the project, Alain shares that his four years in India made him wonder why photography was not considered an art form here. “I have been quite interested in the development of contemporary Indian photography. In another project India Now, 15 Indian and 15 western photographers worked on the new phase of India.” Then the ‘Mad in.’ project ensued that was shot in China. “The idea was to spend two weeks clicking in Beijing, another week for editing etc and then launch in a discotheque!” Replicating the same to India “the 12 photographers came to India in April and went all over the country shooting places like rural Punjab, slums of Mumbai, InfoTech Bangalore, architecture of Gurgaon, Shanti Niketan, Varanasi ashram et al. Coming back to our hotel in Paharganj Delhi, we all had a great time doing the editing on the huge terrace.” Since the photographers were keen on interacting with Indians, writers, poets and journalists were asked to write the texts. “We asked them to write whatever they wanted to say about the country, we were sure it would fit!” smiles Alain. So we have words of Indrajit Hazra, Jayati Ghosh, Anita Roy, Samit Basu, Vandana Shiva among others accompanying the twelve photographs.“Though each work is different, it completes the book, a feature that is synonymous with the group as well. Existing since 17 years, the group brought together people who are anti-globalization. They chose to speak differently about the concept at times when media was not doing the needful.” Is that a theme of the book? “Though there was no specific guideline, one cannot rule out the intrinsic aspects.” Priced at Rs 890, the book will be available at Alliance Francaise.
