Photobooks are still a lesser explored art medium in South Asia, but that is slowly changing with more and more artists creating compelling compendiums of their oeuvre. Following is an edit of three photo books by South Asian artists that have been released recently or will be released shortly, and should be on your list.
THE ARTIST WHO
Berlin-based Pakistani artist, Bani Abidi, will be coming out with her latest photobook The Artist Who in September. This publication shall contain documentation of artworks created over two decades, archival material and an elaborate selection of texts. It explores notions of humour, play and experimentation by incorporating varied forms of writing, design, printing and assembling. As a whole, it represents the wide range of relationships that Abidi has fostered during this period. Her work often explores harsh political realities and conditions, the bureaucracy and urban infrastructure of Asia, along with exposing the absurdities emerging from the dysfunctionalities of everyday life. The book has been edited by Saira Ansari and the text is by Hoor Al Qasimi.
MAJNU KA TILLA
This photobook by Delhi-based photographer, Serena Chopra, is a compilation of the lives of the residents of Majnu Ka Tilla, a refugee colony of Tibetans in New Delhi. The book has excerpts from her journals kept over a period of eight years, personal interviews and images that explore the community with their stories of struggles, power-backed by their united optimism to return to Tibet — their homeland. The images are high contrast, black-and-white, and combined portraits of a few residents, alongside text in their own hand and language. This work is a continuation of Chopra’s investigative documentation of the community which somewhat replicates her earlier photographic series on Bhutan that spanned over twelve years of work. The book has been designed by Rukminee Guha Thakurta and the text is by Ruchir Joshi. It released in July at Les Recontres d’Arles with Offest Projects and shall release in India on August 5.
GUFTGU
This collaboration of interrogations and practices by ten contemporary photographers from India, Nepal and Pakistan is a question to the construction of a photobook. Compiled by Offest Projects’ founder Anshika Varma, it is their first in-house publication. It emerged out of dialogues with practicioners when the world seemed restrained physically but the visual language within South Asia grew and expanded. It further offers a complex study of the land in transit, triggered by contemporary responses of the photographers in their respective climates. The book premiered at Indian Art Fair in April, and made an International launch at the Recontres Arles in July.
Text Samridhi Singh
Date 14-07-2022
