A short biography: My evolution with Portrait photography.
I like a story about Edward Weston. A magazine was in the process of publishing an article about him, and sent him the proofs to correct. The magazine had titled the article: Edward Weston — Artist. On the proof, Weston crossed out Artist and inserted the words: Photographer — and proud of it!
Portraits for me hold a special place in my career as a photographer. At one time in my career I always looked forward to being a fashion photographer. I thought they had a lot of glamour, and charisma. I am actually a product of that industry, working in Mumbai since 1984.
Working as an assistant photographer in Mumbai gave me the first glimpse of advertising and fashion photography.
My first job in the Middle East was with the Boushari Color film co which had several studios that were amongst the best in Kuwait. Here I learnt basic skills of lighting portraits.
I was initially averse to portraits as I thought it would deplete my skills as an advertising and fashion photographer. I guess fate had other plans; my studio manager insisted that I stick with portraits. I learned to speak colloquial Arabic, an essential skill and eventually became an extremely skilled portraitist.
After the first gulf war in 1990 I joined a Kodak Distributor, in Kuwait. My employers had several reputed photographic agencies like Nikon, Sinar, Hasselblad, Noritsyu minilabs etc. My job allowed me to travel to Basel, Switzerland, where I had attended lighting workshops with the ‘Broncolor’ lighting systems manufacturer Sinar Bron AG, who also manufactured the world famous, large format ‘Sinar’ cameras. I used Broncolor and Hasselblad cameras exclusively. I was quite pampered with premium equipment at my disposal.
I conducted lighting workshops for the company. The workshops for ‘Profoto’ film and ‘Potra’ paper which were Kodak products used exclusively for portraiture were on behalf of Kodak (Near East) based in Dubai. Mr. Amal Jajodia G.M .for Kodak (Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions) was quite impressed with the way I had conducted the workshops.
Part of my job was also as a consultant photographer offering equipment and solutions to photographers as part of our sales services. That meant exposure to a wide variety of photographers, their styles and studio conditions.
Doing advertising and fashion photography for me held little interest and meaning and so did Kuwait. I felt I had to move on.
Man Ray once said “I work for two motives, two reasons. I pursue liberty and pleasure. Firstly, I hate work even good work. I am interested in ideas…..”. Moving to Goa in the year 2001 I thought I had a chance of being unrestricted with my art a lot of time for play. I had opened Portrait Atelier in 2004 with that intent. I wanted introduce a style of portraiture in Goa that was unique. I felt there was a special character in the Goan personality.
In (2005), I exhibited the ‘Tiatriste’ series at Fontianhas because at the time I thought it was a good way to get my work noticed. Later, I did series on Goan musicians (2006),where I photographed 28 of them (Click here for Musicians slide show) and a portrait series of Goan artist for Aparanta(2007) at the old GMC. A catalogue was released with the artist portraits by G.T.D.C. (Click here for Goan Artist slide show)
The journalist and writer Fredrick Noronha from Saligao, who had genuine a appreciation for what I had done, recommended that I speak about my work at the Xavier’s History Research Centre in Porvorim. I delivered a lecture with the help of my friend Cecil pinto and valuable insights from his friend Rahul Srivastava a social anthropologist and lecturer on social anthropology. (*See FN’s write up)
I decided to hold a solo exhibition of the ‘Tiatriste’ series in 2008. Ranjit Hoskote who is a cultural theorist and curator wrote an essay in the catalogue released at my first solo exhibition. (**See Ranjit’s essay)
I had the pleasure of meeting Dayanita Singh at her house in Saligao for the first time. It was a great learning experience with Dayanita who is very demanding when it comes to archival quality printing, framing and hanging pictures in a Gallery . Dayanita launched my first solo exhibition in Goa.
The ‘Tiatriste’ was exhibited on the 3rd on January 2008 at ‘Literati’ book shop Calangute.
In 26th Nov 2009 the Tiatriste was exhibited at 'Retrieval systems' a group show curated by Ranjit Hoskote at the India international Center the Art Alive Galley and in New Delhi. (Please see http://www.artalivegallery.com/artists.php?cat=artists&scat=261 .)
Also see :
A Few thoughts about my work.
I am quite aware that photographers are their own worst critics but I am sure you may find certain facts and observations interesting.
I am not really a ‘Tiatre’ fan, but I saw the ‘Tiatriste’ as a representation of our people. While I photographed the ‘Tiatriste,’I started to see close resemblances in the various characters (fisherwoman, Bhatkar, etc) emerging from the ‘Tiatriste’ portraits, with the great Mario Miranda’s cartoons (Goa with love). Rahul Srivastava would describe them as archetypes.
My lecture at the Xavier’s history centre was based on how these archetypes emerged in our minds as Goan artist. Mario drew them in his cartoons, the ‘Tiatriste’ depicted them on stage, and I had photographic portrait series of the same; it was as though we see an invisible language, an identifiable fantasy. The Goan people could identify with these archetypes whether it was from Mario’s cartoons, the ‘Tiatriste’s character in his/her stage garb or my portraits of the ‘Tiatriste’. (See Tiatriste and Jungian archetypes)
Ranjit Hoskote, wrote to me “I like your formulation of "identifiable fantasies", as an explanation of what these figures really are; I also think Rahul has a point when he describes these figures as 'Goan archetypes' -- they are both self and not-self, achievement and aspiration. And unlike the Bollywood caricatures -- which I would see as stereotypes, not as archetypes --these ‘Tiatristes’ are playing out readily identifiable characters in whom the audience has invested its social and personal emotions.”
The Goan portraits as a series have a temporal dimension and semiotic context. They are visual symbols that tell a story of a people at a certain time. Being conceptual and staged the images as a series are highly coded in contrast to photography that is dependent on the environment and chance.
The portrait series are done with a consistent studio style I developed over the years. David Hurn and Bill Jay in their book ‘On looking at photographs’ write, “That is why the best photographs are truly reflective of the photographers. The pictures become extensions of the person and it is evident that a personal style has emerged, which cannot be confused with the works of any other photographer. This is not difficult to understand; it is clearly evident in the style of writers, poets or musicians. Style in photography operates in exactly the same way, in spite of this medium being more closely identified with reality.”
Communicating with people is the key with portraits, whether in the environment or studio. To conjure up a fantasy image in connivance with the sitter is the basis of a good portrait. Dayanita Singh, in an interview with Abhay Sardesai, editor of ‘Art India’ magazine. “A portrait is nothing more than what has passed between a sitter and photographer at a given moment. I think all the people I photograph are collaborators in the creation of this fantasy family (Reference to her book Privacy, where she photographed affluent industrialist families). This fantasy fascinates me, not the truth, whatever that may be." A good photographer has the ability to create an atmosphere for drama in the studio; a photographers ‘Dikath’, as it was called in studios during imperial British India.
Christopher Pinney points out from his more contemporary experience of studios in India, these become space for ‘transcendence and parody of social roles’. The symbiotic link between the pose and the photograph becomes the site for interrogation that reads pose as a possible extension of the world of fantasy aided by the backdrop. Here the word pose has a ‘double implications as posture as deception and posture as stance’.
There are many photographers that I admire and draw influence from. I enjoy looking at art and reading about it.
Cartoonist and caricaturist fascinate me. I think they are masters at the art of making portraits and distorting the human form so that it becomes comical to look at. I greatly admire Mario Miranda; I think he has a keen sense of observation and empathy with human nature. Mario never approaches his subjects with savagery; he is always elegant and stylish in his humor.
Ranjit Hoskote, in his essay ‘The Art of Mario Miranda’ for Mario’s book says of him “Typically a creature of the city, its swarming crowds and its concourse surprises…” Being born in Bombay (Mumbai) I can relate to what it means to be that creature of that city. My earliest memories of Mario were in ‘Bombay’ (Mumbai) either in ‘Kayani’s’ in the Goan enclave of Dhobitalao, sipping tea with his friends the Bheram Contractor (‘Busybee’), Alyque Padamsee and others. Sometimes, one would catch a glimpse of him (Mario) at ‘Rang Bhuvan’ during the Jazz Yatra, but it was always with great fondness and intrigue that I would look at the man who had illustrated my junior school English text books, the daily cartoons in the ‘Evening news paper’ and the ‘Illustrated’ weekly.
e-mail me : alexfernandesportraits@gmail.com
