You don’t take a photograph, you make it, says renowned photographer Diwan Manna
Nonika Singh
Once an artist always an artist… Diwan Manna, the celebrated conceptual artist may have let the organisational abilities in him take a driving seat during his tenures as chairperson, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, President, Punjab Lalit Kala Akadmey, and, director, Triennale India. But the artist in him was always churning within and as he puts it, “Mind is always on the job.” Back to where he belongs — photography; his latest body of work City Tales tells us how a photograph is not just more than a thousand words, but packs in a thousand tales.
Diwan, whose works have often captured life as well as put forth existential questions, beyond life and death, interestingly, rediscovered the photographer in him at a bhog ceremony. As he saw how a family of four, including two children, despite the solemnity of the occasion, were busy with their phones, the arresting image became a sharp comment on today’s times of disconnect. It also triggered his creative process once again.
In the sectors of City Beautiful, the ubiquitous city life which we see and yet ‘unsee’ unfolded before him in many shades and layers. Regular chai-wallahs, sweepers, vendors, cobblers…. he found the soul of Le Corbusier’s city in unexpected nooks and corners. Echoing Ansel Adams’s thoughts, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” Diwan shares, “The image first forms on your mind. Camera is only a tool.” Years of experience of observing life, training at the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, certainly comes in handy in taking note of every movement, rhythm of the body, things happening in the background, foreground. When all elements come together, he quips, “You end up making a comment on society, on how the marginalised are integrated in this urbane sophisticated city.”
Imbuing extraordinary beauty to ordinary lives too happens organically. He says, “If you look at life with compassion and empathy, if you do not judge people on the basis of caste, class and religion, and see them as human beings you will find that beauty.” Indeed, there is ample power in black and white photographs to accentuate the essence and ‘lead the viewer in a direction you want them to’.
Diwan often calls himself a director of photography and avers, “If you want to communicate an idea, you use actors/ models, juxtapose other objects and find meaning in that relationship. However, in street photography you can’t direct people. Here you have to learn the art of becoming invisible, something I have imbibed from the legendary Raghu Rai, who can go up close, yet not be noticed.”
Among Diwan’s many images, one of Nek Chand’s sculpture stands out and we wonder if he can delineate the difference between the subject and object? He elaborates, “The sculpture, also a folk image, takes you into the mind of Nek Chand and how he looked at the lives of women. Broken pieces of crockery on the white skirt of the woman could be her broken dreams or broken heart. Then it no longer remains an object, but becomes a human study.”
His own photographs too are never further away from humans, even when trees are a recurring leitmotif. Indeed, the majestic design of this wondrous nature’s gift to mankind is immanent in his visuals and trees also become a symbol of deep meditation. But, more importantly, trees also are life-givers. He elucidates, “Around the trees you see a chaiwalla, a juice-seller, a cobbler converging and accommodating each other without any fuss. It’s like they have their own mini- showrooms.”
Since he has also focused on cities of Europe, he agrees that life in India and Europe is different. In Barcelona what catches his third eye is a homeless sitting on the road reading a book. In museums, the interface between art-works and viewers lends it a new dynamism and he is intrigued by how a living being becomes a sculpture, and conversely the art-work a viewer. Those who view his photographs as painterly, he is okay with the comparison. “There is hardly any difference between a photograph and a painting. Every image is a work of art.” Yes, digital ones too. He does not think digital photography has adversely impacted the medium’s artistic place. He muses, “Films/rolls are still available and celebrated artists like Dayanita Singh continue to use them.” Despite the tedious process, he might be tempted too. Given the easily offended times we live in, is it possible that he might return to his fascination for nudes. First and foremost, he does not see bodies, especially females, voyeuristically. He shares, “In Shores of The Unknown, I was merely exploring the idea of death and the fact is we come into this world and leave it without clothes.” In future, if a concept demands, he could go back to bare bodies. “An artist is a disruptor and if he will not change the status quo who would?” he asks.
As the world is fast descending into the quagmire of violence, interestingly, Violence was both the name and theme of his exhibition back in 1985. He feels, “Art can bring sanity in this world. Artist is responsible for shining the light…” And on this hopeful note he also promises the artist in him will no more hibernate. In overdrive or contemplative mood, an artist is always driven. As CG Jung, said “Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument.”
