Past Forward

Orphaned negatives revisited and family histories revealed,as a clutch of photographers present images of the past

Orphaned negatives revisited and family histories revealed,as a clutch of photographers present images of the past
In what could best be described as a collective unconscious,photographers and video-artists across the world are pouring over old cardboard boxes and rusted biscuit tins to unearth old forgotten photographs and negatives. At Indian galleries,sepia images with mould and cracks,some stained with tears and some in classic black-and-white recall a bygone era of splendour.

It all began in 2002,when artist Vivan Sundaram created montages of his aunt Amrita Sher-Gil while revisiting his grandfather Umrao Singh Sher-Gils vast archive of family portraiture,for a solo tilted Retake on Amrita. Sundaram placed these images in a manner that was both revolutionary and nostalgic. It showed Amritas own trauma with her dual identity as an Indian and a Hungarian and lingers on Indira the forgotten sister,whose talent as a pianist was overshadowed by Amritas flamboyant persona. I wanted to create dialogues between Amrita,Indira,my Hungarian grandmother and my philosopher grandfather in imagined face-offs, says 66-year-old Sundaram,whose collage-work uses faux family portraits and mirrored images of imagined confrontations.

More recently,in 2007,photographer Dayanita Singh delved into her past,creating a photo-journal that resembled a handmade cloth-covered diary for her work titled Sent a Letter. The idea behind this visual travelogue was two-fold; to create something that bespoke of treasured memories,while making this an affordable collectable. I also included the forgotten photos that my mother,Nony Singh,took as a little treat, recalls the 48-year-old artist. The book was priced at Rs 4,500,a great buy given her work is normally priced at Rs 2.5 -4.5 lakh.

Nony Singh was an avid photo enthusiast who documented her surroundings but her works remained hidden until her daughter rediscovered them. From a prettily dressed three-year-old Dayanita with fluffed up hair to an unconventional image of three women sitting on a low tree branch. This is my elder sister Rajman with our two cousins in a village in Pakistan. Those days it used to be great fun to climb trees but it was not meant for girls. I asked them to go and sit on the tree to make an unusual picture in 1945, writes Nony Singh in Sent a Letter.

Reviving pre-Partition India,or the dreams of a fledgling nation is a mission that photographers like Pablo Bartholomew have taken on by unearthing the work of their talented predecessors. Pablo held an exhibition titled Critics Eye in the memory of his father Richard. It was hosted by Delhis Photo Ink this January. The collection of images taken in the 1950s and 60s,capture Richard Bartholomews life after his sojourn to India from Burma.

Similarly,80-year-old Ram Dhamija held a retrospective at The India International Centre,Delhi,courtesy son Himman,a cinematographer,who found his fathers old negatives and printed them,scratches and all. My father had withdrawn from society,disillusioned since we were far from our dream of independence. However I thought his images of the 1960 must be shared, says Himman.

Besides sharing forgotten histories,there is an aesthetic quality of weathered images that appeals to younger artists

like Shimona Goel. Her generation of

artists is engaged in a debate over loss,

relocation,identity and advancing digital technology.

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I cherish the abstract nature in which these images are destroyed by time. Deteriorated images suggest abandonment and offer a glimpse into someone elses world. This is not only because celluloid deteriorates when exposed to humidity,but also because new media rivals like video,DVD the Internet,and interactive television are trying to absorb or replace it, says Goel,34, whose personal solo titled Family Tree was shown earlier this year in an abandoned building in Mumbai. It displayed an old 16 mm film taken from a car while driving outside her childhood home in India before she migrated to the US. Goels up-coming project is another video-art piece titled I am micro which addresses the neglect heaped on conventional film techniques as digital technology takes over film production. Little is being done to protect our motion picture heritage, says Goel. The film celebrates the struggle and vision of Indian film-makers who have used modest,often outdated equipment to make some of the most extraordinary contributions to cinematic language.

In artist Allen deSouzas dictionary,outdated is not a bad word. DeSouza who suffered from juvenile cataracts that left him with a blurred vision and a heavy reliance on the past,is intent on retrieving fuzzy time worn images especially after his mothers demise. Before she died three years ago,my last days with her were spent describing photographs I had taken the week before in Kenya,my birthplace, says the 48-year-old who had an exhibition of old photographs last year at the Talwar Gallery in Delhi. He says,I feel the past and present have indeed been conflated or that I have stepped outside time.