Artwork © Ernst Neizvesty All Rights Reserved - Follow Me On Twitter
Do you ever wonder what's going on inside an award winning photographer's head?
In December 2008, The Aftermath Project awarded its annual $25,000 grant to photographer Asim Rafiqui who lives in Sweden and the US who plans to use the grant to fund a project on religious culture in India.
In a statement announcing the award, Aftermath Project judge Darius Himes of Radius Books said, Aisim Rafiqui's work as a photographer aims to recover this lost sense of religious pluralism and tolerance for a 21st century India.” Himes continued, “He [Rafiqui] states that he is "using photography not only as a means of evidence, but also as a vessel for the imagination."
THE SPINNING HEAD
One of the blogs I follow is Mr. Rafiqui's Spinning Head. He blogs about places from Afghanistan to the West Bank and is never shy about offering his thoughts about subjects ranging from Photography and Journalism to War.
Apparently, a short time ago he read an article that appeared in a recent issue of Granta magazine written by Rana Dasgupta regarding New Delhi, India entitled Capital Gains, "A piece on the city of New Delhi, India and its rampaging obsession with things material, brand-obsessed, consumerist, shallow, callow and crass." as Rafiqui describes.
Rafiqui's critique is interesting reading, especially considering the fact that he was awarded $25,000 to tell us about the religious culture in India using his vision. Before we see his forthcoming photos, he's allowed us to peer inside his Spinning Head by offering a review of Rana Dasgupta's article that begins by saying:
"A city of tens of millions of people, with a history and a heritage that goes back over a thousand of years and that contains within it an incredibly diverse, varied, complex community of people of all walks of life, beliefs, class, ethnicities, cultures, values, ideas, fears, doubts and dreams can never be called ‘a Hindu society’ alone."
Rafiqui adds, "This is such a vast idiocy that it can’t even be laughed it. Delhi is one of the world’s great cities and what makes it so is that it is a cradle of the world’s heritage and civilizations and that billions have passed through her, lived there, defined it and more will. It is a world city. Complete with the full complexity and vastness of what that term means."
PLEASE READ ASIM RAFIQUI'S COMPLETE REVIEW entitled,
How Hindus Are Destroying New Delhi Or An Exercise In Absolute Foolishness Masquerading As A Stupid Opinion on his blog.
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY AT GAIA PHOTOS
If you enjoy documentary photography and you're interested in learning more about India please visit Gaia Photos to view a unique selection of photo reportage. You can also Follow Me On Twitter.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Do you ever wonder what's going on inside an award winning photographer's head?
In December 2008, The Aftermath Project awarded its annual $25,000 grant to photographer Asim Rafiqui who lives in Sweden and the US who plans to use the grant to fund a project on religious culture in India.
In a statement announcing the award, Aftermath Project judge Darius Himes of Radius Books said, Aisim Rafiqui's work as a photographer aims to recover this lost sense of religious pluralism and tolerance for a 21st century India.” Himes continued, “He [Rafiqui] states that he is "using photography not only as a means of evidence, but also as a vessel for the imagination."
THE SPINNING HEAD
One of the blogs I follow is Mr. Rafiqui's Spinning Head. He blogs about places from Afghanistan to the West Bank and is never shy about offering his thoughts about subjects ranging from Photography and Journalism to War.
Apparently, a short time ago he read an article that appeared in a recent issue of Granta magazine written by Rana Dasgupta regarding New Delhi, India entitled Capital Gains, "A piece on the city of New Delhi, India and its rampaging obsession with things material, brand-obsessed, consumerist, shallow, callow and crass." as Rafiqui describes.
Rafiqui's critique is interesting reading, especially considering the fact that he was awarded $25,000 to tell us about the religious culture in India using his vision. Before we see his forthcoming photos, he's allowed us to peer inside his Spinning Head by offering a review of Rana Dasgupta's article that begins by saying:
"A city of tens of millions of people, with a history and a heritage that goes back over a thousand of years and that contains within it an incredibly diverse, varied, complex community of people of all walks of life, beliefs, class, ethnicities, cultures, values, ideas, fears, doubts and dreams can never be called ‘a Hindu society’ alone."
Rafiqui adds, "This is such a vast idiocy that it can’t even be laughed it. Delhi is one of the world’s great cities and what makes it so is that it is a cradle of the world’s heritage and civilizations and that billions have passed through her, lived there, defined it and more will. It is a world city. Complete with the full complexity and vastness of what that term means."
PLEASE READ ASIM RAFIQUI'S COMPLETE REVIEW entitled,
How Hindus Are Destroying New Delhi Or An Exercise In Absolute Foolishness Masquerading As A Stupid Opinion on his blog.
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY AT GAIA PHOTOS
If you enjoy documentary photography and you're interested in learning more about India please visit Gaia Photos to view a unique selection of photo reportage. You can also Follow Me On Twitter.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
No comments:
Post a Comment