Waswo X. Waswo's Posting Board

The Exhibition Review on Art Slant

2011-12-15T11:04:00.009+05:30

Amjad Majid's review of the exhibition Confessions of an Evil Orientalist now on Art Slant:

http://www.artslant.com/ind/articles/show/29008

Confessions of an Evil Orientalist

2011-12-04T12:01:00.006+05:30

Opening this Wednesday, December 7th, at 6:30 pm.

Gallery Espace, 16, Community Centre, New Friends Colony, New Delhi.

Tinted by Tradition: Pix of the Opening

2011-11-28T06:43:00.013+05:30

Tinted by Tradition: Waswo X. Waswo and Rajesh Soni, hand-coloured photographs at the City Palace, Udaipur, opened at the Bhagwat Prakash Photo Gallery on November 25th.

The opening was presided over by HH Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, and officially inaugurated by Prof. Jyotindra Jain in the courtyard of the Zenana Mahal at the City Palace Museum.

For photographs of the exhibition installation, please follow the below link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10968869@N08/sets/72157628168702117

And for photographs of the opening party please check this other link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10968869@N08/sets/72157628169124107

The exhibition runs until March 31st, 2012

Upcoming Exhibition: at the City Palace Museum, Udaipur

2011-11-16T18:59:00.005+05:30

Tinted by Tradition: Waswo X. Waswo and Rajesh Soni, Hand Coloured Photographs at the City Palace, Udaipur.

To be inaugurated by Dr. Jyotindra Jain on November 25th. Opening to the public on November 26th, and continuing through the 31st of March, 2012.

Upcoming Exhibition

2011-08-14T10:35:00.013+05:30

Staging Selves: Power, Performativity & Portraiture is an exhibition curated by Maya Kovskaya that will examine the various ways "that power inheres in the gaze, and the gaze constructs as much as it captures".

Opening at Sakshi Gallery in Mumbai on Friday, September 2, the exhibition includes work by Ravi Agarwal, Sheba Chhachhi, Gauri Gill, Han Bing, Samar Jodha, Malekeh Nayiny, Tejal Shah, O Zhang, and myself.

The exhibition will continue until the 25th of September. Sakshi Gallery is located at Tanna House, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Colaba, Mumbai - 400-001

http://www.sakshigallery.com

Pictured above: The Learners, 2008, black and white digital photograph hand-coloured by Rajesh Soni

At The Prince of Wales Museum

2011-07-16T11:49:00.014+05:30

A new collaborative work by R. Vijay and myself will premiere in August at an exhibition entitled Fabular Bodies: New Narratves in the Art of the Miniature curated by Gayatri Sinha. Fabular Bodies is this year's incarnation of the annual show sponsored by the Harmony Art Foundation.

The new work by R. Vijay and myself is entitled Lost. It consists of a suite of seven miniatures, one of which is in panoramic format, while the other six are square. This elaborate work is a personal narrative that simultaneously tells two related stories. These two related stories radiate from the panoramic miniature in the center. The image above is just one of the seven miniatures that compose the suite.

Fabular Bodies opens with a private vernissage on the evening of August 5th, and opens to public view from August 6th through August 14th. Some of the other artists on display will be Anant Joshi, Chintan Upadhyay, Desmon Lazaro, Mithu Sen, Rina Banerjee, B Manjunath Kamath and Dhruvi Acharya.

Venue: Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharah Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum), M G Road, Mumbai

The Full Interview

2011-05-18T07:17:00.012+05:30

A rather disappointing feature about Men of Rajasthan has appeared in Time Out - Bangalore, and I am told the same article might soon appear in the magazine's Delhi edition. I feel forced to repeat the usual complaint..."I was quoted out of context!" Sadly, the printed article distorts a lot of what was said through the process of an e-interview conducted with the article's author, Jaideep Sen. Mr. Sen himself has expressed his dismay at the way his writings appeared in print, and has permitted the full and original interview to appear below.

JS: We wished to begin by addressing the form of “staged photography”, in itself, in asking you for your take on how this form has genuinely come into itself, as it were, to become a genuine offshoot, or branch, of art practice. Would you like to share with us, your ideas and thoughts, about how the form of “staged photography” perhaps needs to be revisited, re-analysed and reinterpreted in a contemporary context – especially, as a practice that has one foot in the trite, platitudinal consultations of the street-side photo studio kind, which have long been a part of Indian middle-class culture, and in light of the work of the likes of Nandini Valli Muthiah, Pushpamala, and Shadi Ghadirian, for instance? (Without necessarily embarking on a Barthes/Chris Pinney-like discourse) How much of a cultural, anthropological, and artistic reading would you draw towards “staged photography”, as a form that is indeed evolving to incorporate and highlight such elements as satire, artifice and even sophistry, which were in all likelihood unintended in say, illustrations of such a practice in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century?

WXW: In a certain sense all portrait photography was "staged' in the early years of photography for the simple reason that very long exposures were needed to make a photograph. Portrait photographers in the 19th century even used metal braces to help keep people's heads from moving during the long minutes needed to create a negative. The idea of candid shots and totally natural poses only evolved with the advancement of technology. But early photographers did wonders within the limitations of the staged tableau. Look at the work of Julia Margaret Cameron who worked in Britain during the late 1800s (she was actually born in Sri Lanka). In contemporary times many people have developed a bias against staged photography, but practitioners in the field of Fine Art have readily embraced it: from Cindy Sherman to Pushpamala N. and Sunil Gupta. For the most part it seems contemporary artists use staged photography for self-portraiture, parody, or ironical commentary.

A lot of these artists have quite strong political agendas and their work is largely a critique on such things as Orientalism, hegemony, and the "colonial gaze". They revisit the genre partially in order to deconstruct it and critique it. I'm aware of those issues, but my work is seldom directly political. I've done staged self-portraiture (of course, all self-portraiture is in some manner staged) but for the most part I am looking at "others", people who are in varying degrees removed from the culture of my birth. This separates my work from the work of artists such as Pushpamala and Ghadirian.

In the past I had received criticism of my sepia-toned India Poems body of work as it was seen as possessing an apparent "colonial gaze". Part of my rationale for using backdrops, sets, and posed models in this new series (which is called in its totality A Studio in Rajasthan) was that in doing so it sends a clear signal that this work is not meant as an actual documentation of Indian reality. Rather, it is one artist's eccentric and, if I say so myself, rather romanticized way of viewing. I'm not shy of the word "romantic", though having your work labelled romantic in the discourse of contemporary art can be a kiss of death. There are strong biases against a romantic vision.

JS: To be honest, we’re all for the quality of monochrome as an overarching scheme, when it comes to portraiture. But was there any other reason, based upon which, you might have decided to avoid colour altogether for Men of Rajasthan? Also, were you satisfied by the results of the printed reproductions – as in, was the slightly muted, almost blunted tone in the images entirely intentional?

WXW: I studied in schools that were very purist in their approach to old-fashioned black and white chemical-process photography. It was always stressed in these schools that making the print in the darkroom was fifty percent of the work. We were taught that real photographers made their own prints. These days all of that has changed. Very few fine arts photographers today actually make their own prints, and reliance upon digital printing services is the norm.

When I first established a studio in Udaipur I went ahead and built a chemical darkroom like I was accustomed to in the USA. But the complications of the desert environment and the lack of traditional darkroom supplies sort of forced me into the digital shift. I discovered a new love for digital black and white. But it seemed a very radical jump from my former work, and I wasn't sure if the people who follow me could accept that.

When Rajesh Soni entered into my life, with his family's long tradition of photo hand-colouring, it just opened up a whole new world. I discovered that with Rajesh's help my black and white digital prints could be given a more vintage feel. Even though we were adding colour these hand-painted prints seemed closer to the aesthetic feel of my earlier work.

Rajesh and I worked a long time together to get the soft, muted tones that we like. Of course seeing the actual photographic prints (which are quite large and more brilliant) is an entirely different experience than seeing them in the book. The book tones them down too much and I'm not totally happy with that. But I do think Men of Rajasthan fulfills the publisher's concept of producing an inexpensive and fun survey of one segment of the work.

JS: Could you tell us how you reasoned the inclusion of narratives essayed by models – such as Aslam, Azad, Chinnu and Krishna – in the book? On one hand, what were you hoping to execute in interspersing these images with real-life tales, as of the thela-wallahs, ghee-wallahs, or of Javed the guide, and of Vinod who survived polio as child and went on to become a bicycle repair man, or the farming couple of Mohun Lal and Dhapubai, to name a few? Then again, apart from the appended segment New Myths, was there a thought in literally placing some of these impressions in between the compositions that are true to reality, in the arrangement of the book?

WXW: A Studio in Rajasthan began as an attempt to fairly faithfully reproduce the look of vintage 19th century studio portraiture. But it very quickly evolved. It seems the work basically split into two diverging directions. One was a playful attempt to recreate reality within the studio setting. This can be seen in photographs such as Farm Boys or The Chara Thela Wallah. The other direction the series took delved more into the realm of fantasy, such as in Tribal Dreams and Night Prowl. The series New Myths couples fantasy (myth) with social commentary. By exploring issues of masculinity as expressed in terms of sexual vanity and aggression it is perhaps the most provocative and politicized body of work, and as such I have kept it as a separate series. Serindia Contemporary and I both felt that this work needed to be included in a book that centred upon Rajasthani men, but it seemed too divergent from the other photographs to be mingled between.

JS: We have encountered the word “playful” a few times in descriptions of your work. Is this an aspect that you are comfortable with? How much of your works are genuinely carefree and really meant to evoke mirth, and – please do excuse the big word – light-heartedness? At the risk of going all pedantic and academic, we’re almost certain that there is a serious side to a large part of Men of Rajasthan.

WXW: When people see my work as playful I am quite OK with it and I use that word myself. A photograph such as The Young Businessman has overt humour, but more generally there is, as you say, a feeling of light-heartedness. By nature I take life quite seriously and I am more prone to humour that has a dark side. Perhaps because of this I am attracted to people that manage to keep a kind of invincible joyousness and I find this in so many average Rajasthanis. They seem much better at keeping a smile in their hearts than we westerners do. Some people will claim that I have fallen into the trap of romanticizing "the happy poor", but I think happiness is found in subaltern realities far more often than people realize, and there is just as much of a trap in perceiving only "the miserable poor".

So in spite of the playfulness that lies on the surface of much of this work there are certainly some serious underlying issues. A lot of what I do examines how we approach and perceive the "other". One Italian collector of mine explained it very well. He said, "A person looks at one of these photographs and thinks they know what they are seeing. Then a second later they realize the photograph is not at all the reality they thought it was. And then they look again, and question their own perceptions and preconceptions." I think that sums up one aspect of the work in a very succinct manner. Another comment came from the London-based art critic Edward Lucie-Smith, who wrote that my work, when seen as a whole, became "an ambitious self-portrait" and a "sustained love letter to an ancient culture". There is truth in that analysis too...and of course both self-portraiture and sustained love letters imply a serious amount of seriousity!

JS: Would you like to comment on the decidedly male-oriented focus here? Was this a direct, inescapable outcome of Rajasthani society, as you witnessed it? How much of this aspect really played into your studio sessions from reality? Wouldn’t you have liked to perhaps play up the roles of Devia, clinging on to the barber Manoj on a scootie, or of Dhapubai? As a matter of fact, there aren’t too many children here either – barring, perhaps, the boy in On the Way. To think of it, Rajasthani culture does have a rather unsparing history of stunning, and even imperious women. Did you entirely miss them for the book?

WXW: For sure there needs to someday be a larger and more complete book that includes the women. The Studio in Rajasthan series not only includes many images of women, but also children and "group shots". Focusing entirely on the men was first and foremost an editorial decision that the rather bulky series could be pared down into a more easily grasped take on Rajasthani men. I initially fought the idea, but eventually realized it made sense. Males in Rajasthan occupy such a privileged position and are far more visible in the social sphere. Taking select images of the men, and coupling that with a few New Myths works and the essay by Amrita Gupta Singh, I think we've managed to create not only an entertaining but a perceptive and even daring volume.

JS: What was your reaction to the three lads landing up at your studio unannounced, for what then took shape as the image Village Boys? Were there other similar stories, such as of Vinod, almost secretly harbouring his aspirations of becoming a model?

WXW: The three boys who appeared at the studio door unannounced and ended by posing for Village Boys were a lot of fun largely because my usual assistants were not around and I had no help with interpretation. It really strained my "baby-talk Hindi" to get them to understand what the project was about and how I wanted them to pose. But the young man in Vinod at the Mirror is probably the more interesting story. Vinod did indeed seem to have aspirations to be a real model. Most of the people we photograph in the studio pose in the roles that they play in real life. In other words, a chai-wallah will play the part of a chai-wallah in the studio. Vinod worked as a bicycle repair man, sitting each day at the side of the road and mending punctured tires and broken gears. He had these long flowing locks and was really gorgeous in his face and his upper body. He himself seemed to realize this, and his vanity was quite apparent. So constructing a little fantasy and letting Vinod pose in front of a mirror seemed quite the thing to do. The poignant thing of course is that Vinod had been a victim of polio, his legs were like thin sticks and it was quite impossible for him to stand erect. A person sees one thing when they first view this photograph, and quite another after reading the accompanying story. The short anecdotes add a lot to this book.

JS: The snide wit is hard to miss in the take on the unnamed westerner cradling an open book in The Learners. But this image also leads us to think about the many newfound trades, and converted businessmen in Rajasthan, particularly in Pushkar, who have abandoned an older profession to practically pander to the tourists passing-through – not just as guides, like Javed, instead more like farmers turned coolies, or of former labourers gone the route of travelling entertainment, and such? Would this perhaps be a part of a follow-up project on the people of Rajasthan – to document the lost, converted and evolved professions of the people of this state?

WXW: You've hit upon something that is very bothering to me. Yes, it is rather painful to see what the tourism industry does to small locations such as Udaipur. There are groups of young men in Udaipur who at one time might have been learning their father's professions, but are instead waiting roadside playing the tourist tout and gigolo. The tourists play a huge role in this by indulging young men with gifts and even free trips. But the locals themselves are hardly innocent, as they have let greed lead them into these lives. There is exploitation on both sides and it is sometimes painful to watch. But to be fair, there is also a certain amount of positive cultural interchange. There is a nod to this in The Learners, snide wit notwithstanding.

One reason I selected Rajasthan as a base is that I had fallen in love with the tradition of crafts in the state. In spite of the corruptions that tourism has brought there are still tremendously talented craftsmen in Rajasthan. But I don't consider myself a documentary photographer, at least not in the usual sense, so doing a project of this sort is probably unlikely.

JS: The one facet of Rajasthani life that comes through distinctly in Men of Rajasthan is to do with the sense of pride, and self-regard – be it, in the lives of farming folk, or of cycle repair men, or of apparently rudderless youngsters. How aware were you of this singular, predominant trait of all Rajasthani men, when you first visited this part of India in 1993? Was Rajesh Soni, as a soft-spoken, mild-mannered individual as you have described him, almost an antithesis to the stereotype of the typically contemptuous and dominating man from Rajasthan?

WXW: 1993 was not only my first visit to Udaipur it was my first visit to India, so I was really clueless. I would say I did not begin to sink my teeth into Rajasthani society until my return to Rajasthan in 1999. For sure one of the first things I noticed was the handsomeness of the people and the men in particular. Like I say in the book, there is a very curious mixture of machismo and tenderness in Rajasthani men that I find nowhere else in the world. I'm not sure if Rajesh Soni is an exception. He too can be very cocky or "proudy" as they say here, but then there is also this soft and smiling and very open side to him as well. He would certainly never be "contemptuous". I really don't see that trait.

JS: We came across a particularly piquant question that you raised in a recent blog-post: “Are nationalistic identifiers in the arts needed at all?” In view of your experiences within and outside of India, as a case in point, would you like to elaborate on that thought, and some of the concerns that you have, along these lines?

WXW: One of the facts about becoming an expat is that one tends to feel rather homeless. Though I was born and lived much of my life in the USA I always had difficulty relating to it culturally and politically. People like to peg artists according to the nationality on their passports, but artists of all people tend to think in terms of universal human emotions and ideals. So I really have problems with groupings of artists by race or nationality.

One thing I did appreciate about the USA however was that it was a multi-racial society, and being conscious of racial diversity has become rather expected in modern America. Museums and galleries generally take care to be inclusive of racial minorities in their selection processes and scheduling. For the most part that doesn't happen in India. Galleries can be quite blunt in announcing that they only handle "Indian Art", with "Indian" being defined in strictly racial terms. Curators still think along the lines of creating exhibits themed around "Indian Photographers" rather than "Photographers in India". So of course people like me get left out of such shows. I'm sure this is a hangover from the need to establish a post-Independence Indian identity and with time this thinking will change. But it can be irritating, and the attitude extends to even foreign dealers of "Indian Art". For instance, I recently had a woman who worked for one of the big auction houses quite interested in my work, but when she discovered that I was not Indian she sort of gasped and said, "Oh! But I thought you were Indian!" Her face fell and she lost interest in my work almost immediately. So yes, both on a theoretical level and on a personal level I wish the nationalistic identifiers could be left behind.

The Talk in Mumbai

2011-04-04T15:14:00.006+05:30

On the evening of Thursday, April 7th, my collaborators and I will be giving a presentation sponsored by the Mohile Parikh Center in Mumbai. Together we will cover our "Studio in Rajasthan" project...including both miniature paintings and hand-coloured photographs...discussing how the work has evolved over time and the issues that arise from what we do. We hope to include a lot of visuals, including a few videos.

Tea is at 6pm.

Presentation and discussion: 6:30

At the Little Theatre, NCPA (National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point)

Please join Rajesh Soni, R. Vijay, and myself. Complete information can be found by clicking on the invite above.

*

Waswo X. Waswo and R. Vijay at Art Chennai

2011-03-25T07:25:00.004+05:30

For the next three days Gallery Espace presents at Art Chennai select miniature work I have done in collaboration with R. Vijay. Venue is the Taj.

Pictured above: The Other Brahmacharis - homage to Amrita, 2010.

*

New Book Now at Gallery Espace

2011-03-15T18:10:00.004+05:30

A limited number of the new Men of Rajasthan books are now available in New Delhi at Gallery Espace...at a very special price. If you are in New Delhi, this is your chance to grab one of these books at a price much less than to be found on Amazon.

Gallery Espace is located at 16, Community Centre, New Friends Colony. Phone: 11-269-22947 or 11-263-26267.

The Art Interview Channel

2011-02-27T18:37:00.005+05:30

If you haven't yet discovered this, I've developed a new passion, and that is doing short and informal interviews with other artists and people within the visual arts community.

These interviews are generally less than ten minutes long, but they are beginning to form an interesting body of documentation.

Click the link below to discover "waswox" (I like to hear it pronounced "waz-wox") and listen into a few brief discussions about the arts.

http://www.youtube.com/user/waswox

*

In the Gallery and in the Garden

2011-02-03T20:35:00.020+05:30

Just a few of the many photos taken by Natthaphat Meksriwan ("Phat") of Serindia Gallery at the opening party of the Men of Rajasthan exhibition and book launch. The reception took place at Serindia Gallery, Bangkok, on January 27th.

To view a complete slideshow of the opening reception, please click on the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10968869@N08/sets/72157625854971131/

*

New Book: Men of Rajasthan

2011-01-06T09:23:00.009+05:30

Happy to announce that my new book is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Published by Serindia of Chicago/Bangkok, this volume is a 120 page paperback with essays by Maya Kovskaya and Amrita Gupta Singh, as well as plenty of anecdotes by myself! Pictured above are the front and back covers (with fold-in flaps).

For more information, or to order from Amazon, please click on the below link:

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Rajasthan-Waswo-X/dp/1932476520/ref=cm_sw_em_r_o_dp_svejnb1KWAFZF_tf

*

Men of Rajasthan

2010-12-30T08:24:00.008+05:30

Serindia Gallery in Bangkok opens a solo exhibition of mine entitled Men of Rajasthan on January 27th, 2011.

The opening seconds as the launch of a new book by the same title. Men of Rajasthan is a compilation from my Studio in Rajasthan photographic work that focuses exclusively on the male.

Serindia is an old and established book publisher that specializes in books on Asia and Asian photography. Men of Rajasthan is 120 pages, paperback, and will receive worldwide distribution.

The exhibition at Serindia Gallery closes on February 27th, 2011.

Limited Editions from Gallery Espace

2010-12-07T18:11:00.016+05:30

This is the first of a series of limited editions being released exclusively by Gallery Espace in New Delhi. Titled New News at the Chai Shop, this digital black and white photograph has been printed with archival ink on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper and has been hand-coloured by Rajesh Soni.

The image has been released in an edition of three 16 x 24 inch hand-coloured prints, and three 24 x 36 inch hand-coloured prints.

For further information please contact Gallery Espace:

http://www.galleryespace.com/

...

My Interview with Jyoti Bhatt on ArtConcerns

2010-11-19T07:26:00.006+05:30

An interview I recently did with venerable Indian artist Jyoti Bhatt in Baroda.

The link below:

http://www.artconcerns.com/interview.php

Sreenu's Story: Part 1

2010-11-04T13:41:00.008+05:30

M. Srinivas Rao, otherwise known as "Sreenu", has been visiting in Udaipur the past six weeks. As many of you already know, Sreenu worked as my assistant from 2001 through 2004, traveling through India with me in the days I shot with an old Rolleiflex.

Eventually these photographs were exhibited in venues from Mumbai to Sri Lanka to Udaipur. Sreenu helped with those early exhibitions as well (most of them held with the assistance of Alliance Francaise).

The work I did with Sreenu eventually became the book India Poems: The Photographs. The link below connects to Part 1 of a documentation we are doing of Sreenu's help and travel while producing this book. It focuses upon Sreenu's native place of Hampi, and is told in his own words, with his own voice. Part 2 will deal with Sreenu's travels beyond his home.

The volume is a bit low, so it is best to watch this while you have a quiet few minutes in your day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS2lFlXk0oQ

Prabhu Lal Verma (Soni)

2010-10-19T16:54:00.004+05:30

My collaborator Rajesh Soni has long spoke of the work of his grandfather, Prabhu Lal Verma (Verma being a variant of the family name Soni). Prabhu Lal worked as an artist and photographer, and spent much of his time hand-colouring photographs for the late Maharajah Bophal Singh of Mewar in Udaipur.

The image above (dated 1956) was not a royal commission, but a portrait of a man who was probably a wealthy tradesman or merchant. In the upper right is a printed card of a Jain saint, and in the lower left some sort of attached bauble. As was often the style, the photograph itself is so heavily coated with pigment that it almost ceases to be a photograph. Rather, it seems to morph into an oil painting.

Much of Rajesh's grandfather's work is held in the archives of Udaipur's City Palace Museum (though very little is currently actually on display). The image above is from the Soni family's personal collection.

Audio of the MoMA Lecture on Luigi Ontani

2010-10-11T19:23:00.003+05:30

Below is the full audio of Anna Mecugni's brilliant lecture on Luigi Ontani in New York at the Museum of Modern Art. My photo Sauresh Playing Hanuman is briefly mentioned near the end, as is a photo by Pushpamala N.

Unfortunately the MoMA website does not include images, so I have added a few above.

Mein Schwules Auge #7

2010-10-08T16:44:00.007+05:30

Mein Schwules Auge #7 was released this week at the Frankfurt Book Fair. For the second year in a row my work has been included in this annual gay anthology published from Berlin. Selected were a number of images from New Myths: Second Incarnation, as well as two new poems.

Lecture at MoMA

2010-10-01T14:39:00.012+05:30

This past March I was lucky enough to meet with Anna Mecugni, an art historian and a lecturer at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She was referred to me by Kavita Singh at J.N.U. in New Delhi. Anna was in India to do research on the Italian artist Luigi Ontani and the work he did with photo hand-colourists in India during the 1970's.

If you happen to be in New York and get to MoMA you can catch her lecture on one of two different days (October 4 and 7). I am told her lecture will include reference to my own work pictured above, Sauresh Playing Hanuman, and maybe others as well.

The link for information is below:

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/events/9953

My Own Collection

2010-09-26T14:17:00.007+05:30

Some may not realize that I am not only an artist, but also an art collector. The link to the blog I keep on my Collection of Indian Printmaking is in the sidebar.

Recently I made a short video of the collection that has gained over 400 views on You Tube in less than one week.

If you'd like to take a look, the link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqEuVqJKceA

Bangkok - January, 2011

2010-08-28T07:59:00.007+05:30

A solo exhibition of hand-coloured photographs is set to open in Bangkok early next year. It will be the first time work from the series A Studio in Rajasthan has been shown in Thailand. The above is an ad that is appearing in several magazines.

The Monsoon Show Chapter V

2010-08-10T15:31:00.007+05:30

Once again it is time for the annual Monsoon Show (Chapter 5) curated by Himanshu Verma.

This year's exhibition and gala extravaganza will be hosted by three different venues...the Alliance Francaise de Delhi, and the galleries Exhibit 320 and Latitude 28.

The collaborative work of R. Vijay and myself will be included in the exhibition.

For dates, times, locations and other information, please click on the two images above.

At the Annual Harvest Exhibition

2010-07-22T21:12:00.015+05:30

With a preview on the 30th of July, Payal Kapoor and Arushi Arts present the annual Harvest exhibition at Alliance Francaise de Delhi, 72 Lodhi Estate, New Dehi.

The above two miniatures (reproduced here without their painted borders) will be a part of the show, along with works by Atul Dodiya, Kishore Shinde, Akbar Padamsee, Viraj Naik, and many others.

Both of the above miniatures were done in collaboration with R. Vijay. The piece on top is titled The Bringer and the bottom work is titled Morning Meds. For more information on these two works, check the link below.

http://www.eindiaart.com/index.php?file=artist_work&aid=249

Or go directly to Arushi Arts at :

http://www.eindiaart.com/

Collaboration and Credits

2010-06-29T06:41:00.007+05:30

Came across this blog ("Mrs. Deane"), which actually brought up some good questions about the nature of collaboration and its relation to giving due credit. Since it referred to my work I found the need to respond...

http://www.beikey.net/mrs-deane/?p=3856

Chandramohan in Bangkok

2010-06-22T12:28:00.006+05:30

I was lucky enough to catch the first solo exhibition of Indian artist Chandramohan, which, due to the political problems the artist still faces in India, was held at Serindia gallery in Bangkok. Chandramohan was denied a passport to attend his own opening, but the art crowd in Bangkok came out in force.

Below is a link to a review I wrote for this exhibition, which appears on ArtConcerns.

http://www.artconcerns.com/review.php?n=12

Questions and Answers

2010-06-10T10:26:00.008+05:30

A short Q. & A. that recently appeared in Third Coast Digest. Nice to know I'm still remembered in my hometown.

http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2010/06/5q-studio-in-rajasthan

The Un-Edited Essay

2010-05-08T15:17:00.006+05:30

Art and Deal magazine recently published a very thoughtful review of New Myths: First Incarnation, the exhibition that was held at Bombay Art Gallery this past January. Due to space restraints the review saw some editorial condensing.

Below is the original unedited essay written by Amrita Gupta-Singh.

Re-claiming Territories, Mutating Narratives

To look back at history and mythology via the lens of the contemporary is a difficult task. One asks questions like where are the beginnings of myths, where does history take primacy and how does religion/rituals function across centuries, in this case, in the Indian scenario. In many instances, like the legend of Krishna, folklore, myth, history and faith become intertwined in such a manner, that it becomes difficult to sift fact from fiction. New research on Krishna reveals that it is possible to establish the historicity of the man who lived towards the end of the Vedic age, and that he was very different from the popular myth of the adolescent playful figure so revered in Hindu religion and Vaisnavite literature. The insertions of the miraculous and supernatural to his birth, life and personality also add to his heroic mythical charisma as the god of power, bravery, mentoring and divine love.

The Udaipur based artist, Waswo X. Waswo’s recent suite of photographs ‘New Myths: First Incarnation’ is intriguing in many ways; they depict a handsome adult Krishna, complete with a lean toned body that male models in the entertainment industry vie for or college Romeos flaunt to attract the attention of the opposite sex., while also implying the male indulgence via the gaze of the artist/photographer. Waswo’s first entry point into the series was in the probing of his Christian values and a comparative exploration of Hindu mythologies given his current location in Udaipur, where the local/popular culture is filled with calendar art depicting religious deities, temple paintings, rituals, folklore, painted miniatures of Krishna and oral narratives that transmit cultural lessons, thereby instigating the process of remembering. These photographs work across two levels: as personal myths and cultural myths, conveying the particularities of the almost narcissistic playfulness of Krishna, the sexual allure/maleness of the posed model (whose real name is also Krishna), the private fantasies of the artist via the voyeuristic camera and also the critique of privileges the male god/prince/son is allotted in Indian society, which undoubtedly has a material base. These photographs are not just passive observations, but become discursive interpolations of multiple narratives/memories/story-telling rituals within and outside the photographic frame.

Waswo re-examined the myth of Krishna in contemporary Rajasthan and found curious analogies in the behavior of young males in Udaipur with the ‘playful/happy’ indulgence of Krishna, a kind of “bad-boy hero” that is found in various cultures, be it Bollywood, Hollywood or street machismo (assertive male bonding in street groups/gangs, teasing of local and foreign girls/women in Udaipur, or indulging in transgressions without the anxiety of castigation; for the entitlement of his ‘male’ birth relieves him of societal/moral censure). Is playfulness necessarily harmless, do the ‘happy’ myths of Krishna that circulate in our societies insidiously allow for the patriarchal exclusivity of male progeny, the dominant male identity?

It is also important to note that the protagonist in these photographs was also dressed as Krishna in his childhood and inducted in roles of Krishna in school dramas and pageants by his family; he almost resembles the illustrated adult Krishnas in Amar Chitra Katha comics and animation films; in many ways adopting this persona was almost natural to him. Waswo also wanted to make “his Krishna to look less like religious idols and more like the idols we create in everyday life”. The protagonist looks like a young self-conscious urbanite enacting this role with the practiced ease of being in front of the camera, not in the painted blue ‘dark’ skin as found in Indian art, but a photographic grey, emanating a masculine energy, full of vanity/self interest, desirous and desired, a timeless archetype of male beauty and the ideal lover.

The setting of these photographs seems to be a cross-over between the historical imaginary of Vrindavan and Mathura (Brajbhoomi) and contemporary Rajasthan. Waswo collaborates with local artists of Udaipur and the backdrops were painted by Zenule Khan, some copied from Waswo’s previous photographs of Udaipur and Karnataka while others were forest scenes painted from imagination, resembling enlarged miniatures. Interestingly, Zenule Khan is not a trained miniaturist but has experience in copying European landscapes on canvas and restoration of paintings in temples. These painted backdrops have the local flavour of the landscapes of Rajasthan, while the props/objects used are also found on the streets of Udaipur (cycle-carts, old scooter, saxophone, electric fan, decorative mirrors, painted wooden cows, earthen pots, Balaji Chips etc) thereby inserting the local contemporaneity in these staged photographs. Waswo has been largely influenced by the 19th century photography movement of Pictorialism (though he freely explores other photography styles) that sought to imitate the composition and atmospherics of traditional paintings and ‘making’ a photograph is of immense importance to him; this establishes the elaborate ‘stage’ and the theatricality/performavity evident in these series. Here a live performer enacts a self-contained drama via representational illusions, akin to religious or morality plays enacted in temple festivals.

This series raises curious questions, that of a contented and a contentious masculinity; the photographs have no female presences apart from two female wooden dolls; the mother Yashodha, his lover, Radha or the other gopis are missing within the frames, while Krishna in this avatar is the doted son and idealized lover. The men in Rajasthan adopt traditional patriarchal roles, living in a homoerotic universe while mapping public terrains; the women live in private domains and play the nurturing role assigned within a hegemonic system. Gender segregation is the basis, on which an authentic masculine identity is acquired, here Krishna seems to be underpinning the idea that the “male psyche is constituted in a contradictory way through the strange combination of power and powerlessness, privilege and pain” (Michael Kaufmann).

While most photographs depict Krishna as a narcissistic, self absorbed individual, there is also an anguish that one notices in his expressions. Is there a crisis in masculinity? (Jeff Hearn) Does Krishna/the local male of Udaipur grapple with the duality of the domestic embodiment of the perfect son/provider versus the sexually aggressive male on the street, a psychosocial problem in outwardly conservative societies? Love/Sex become secret, desire is played out with passing wealthy tourists, gigolos and play-boys scour the tourist locations, creating erotic relations determined by economy and class. This series investigates the notion of desire as a structure or in a psychoanalytic way, the workings of the “libido” as a social force via the lens of the male universe, via a familiar historical Hindu god who is favoured amongst the populace, while a strange conflicted alterity plays out in a contingent mode. Via reclamation of, as he says, “a happy territory from regionalists”, Waswo inserts a provocative way to re-look at myth from within the realm of the contemporary. With much humour, Waswo casts a critical eye on the proximate transmission of historical traditions, modern aspirations of liberated sexual mores and the alienating aspects of a hegemonic patriarchal masculinity, examining how stories evolve with time, and mutate with interpretation.

Amrita Gupta-Singh
March 2010

Biography:

Amrita Gupta-Singh is an art historian and writer, with an interest in arts management. Currently, she is the Program Director at the Mohile Parikh Center, Mumbai and Fellow, Arthink South Asia 2010 -11.

Our Display at Darmstadt

2010-04-22T17:29:00.011+05:30

The Darmstadt Tage der Fotografie opens this evening with an invitation-only preview. Unfortunately, due to one angry Icelandic volcano, I am not attending the event!

Above is the curated selection of our work picked for the exhibition's theme: Now -Time,Told.

A catalogue for the full exhibition is available by emailing info@dtdf.de

Darmstadt Tage der Fotografie

2010-03-20T13:02:00.003+05:30

Each year the Darmstadt Tage der Fotografie (a three day photography festival held just outside of Frankfurt) invites thirty international artists to participate in the featured exhibition at the Designhaus.

This year I was lucky enough to be one of the invited and five hand-coloured photographs from the Studio in Rajasthan series will hang in the exhibition.

The Darmstadt Tage der Fotografie runs from the 23rd to the 25th of April. A link to the official website is below.

http://www.dtdf.de/

On View at Kashi

2010-03-02T06:46:00.003+05:30

Photographs from the Studio in Rajasthan series are currently on view at Kashi Cafe Gallery in Fort Kochi, Kerala. Photograph courtesy of Thulasi Kakkat.

"New Myths" Artist Statement

2010-02-16T21:43:00.002+05:30

The new upload of Art Concerns has come online, and my New Myths artist statement can be found therein:

http://www.artconcerns.com/html/article3_waswo.htm

It is quite personal. Includes images.

Stills from the Slideshow

2010-01-31T15:20:00.008+05:30

Stills from the high-speed slideshow that mimics a vintage film. Part of the installation All I Want (see previous post).

Marvelous Reality Installation view

2010-01-31T14:41:00.008+05:30

A view of the installation of All I Want as it appeared at Gallery Espace's Marvelous Reality exhibition in New Delhi. Triptych of hand-painted photographs with high-speed slideshow on two monitors, plus flip cards in painted mutkas. Photo courtesy of Gallery Espace.

Party Pix Again...

2010-01-30T15:22:00.004+05:30

A spread from the Marvelous Reality opening received in The Asian Age newspaper. That's me in the white hat (of course), upper right.

Opening Pix

2010-01-13T14:51:00.005+05:30

Some pix from the opening of New Myths at Bombay Art Gallery. Click the link below, or find my Flickr page on the sidebar.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10968869@N08/sets/72157623076470383/

Opening Monday

2010-01-06T18:30:00.004+05:30

The premiere of the series New Myths opens at Bombay Art Gallery this Monday, January 11th, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

Bombay Art Gallery is located at Ruia House, 19 Mount Pleasant Road, Malabar Hill, Mumbai.

phone: 022 - 23675254 or 022 - 23615254

New Myths

2010-01-06T18:28:00.002+05:30

Coromandel Link

2009-12-19T20:44:00.007+05:30

This is the link to Coromandel Art Gallery in Pondicherry. My current exhibition is listed and works are on the website for view.

http://www.coromandelartgallery.com

Marvelous Reality

2009-12-04T10:59:00.005+05:30

Opening on the 9th !

To see the list of participating artists and view works, please click on the link below:

http://www.galleryespace.com/new_artists_000086.php

Coromandel Art Gallery

2009-11-30T15:50:00.002+05:30

The upcoming exhibition in Pondicherry.

Painting a Photograph

2009-11-22T12:44:00.010+05:30

The photo above was taken by Giriraj Agarwal and appears in the November/December issue of SPAN magazine. Giriraj, who is the Hindi Editor of the magazine (SPAN appears in English, Hindi, and Urdu editions) visited Udaipur and met all of the collaborating artists before writing a five page article on our work. If you can get a hold of a copy it is worth the read.

A short video of Rajesh painting this same photograph appears on my YouTube channel. Check the sidebar or click on the below link.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?gl=US&hl=hi&user=waswoxwaswo&view=videos/sales.html

Another Book Launch

2009-11-19T11:49:00.005+05:30

The Bombay launch of the Harper-Collins book Leela is about to happen. This "erotic play of verse and art" has been edited by Dr. Alka Pande and contains four of my hand-coloured images.

The launch is to be held at Gallery Art and Soul on November 28th, and is coupled with a mini-exhibition of some of the art from the book. Four of my photographs will be on display.

Click on the image to enlarge the invite and check the details.

Cover Art

2009-11-18T12:43:00.003+05:30

To my surprise an image of mine has appeared on the cover of XTRA, the largest and most widely distributed gay magazine in Austria. Horizontal image turned vertical! But I am not complaining.

This image accompanies their cover story announcing the release of Mein Schwules Auge 6, an anthology of homoerotic verse and images. Several of my photographs and miniatures, plus some of my poetry is contained in this anthology.

Pressing Dates

2009-11-01T12:03:00.008+05:30

Several important exhibitions are looming on the horizon, and we have been working almost non-stop in Udaipur to meet the deadlines. Couple this to a few commissions that have come my way, the opening of Gallery One (see previous post) and this month's move from Chinar Villa to a new home at Moti Magri and you will realize why I have been quite frantic! On top of all, I must be in Brussels near the end of November!

I am thinking it might be a good time to blog the most important dates;

December 9th - the opening of Sunil Mehra's "Marvelous Reality" show in New Delhi. This is a large group exhibition that includes some of the most important names in Indian art, and I am happy to have been included among them.

December 11th - the opening of "A Studio in Rajasthan: Select Hand-coloured Photographs from the Series" at Patrick Guicherd's Coromandel Art Gallery in Pondicherry.

January 11th - the opening of "New Myths: Incarnation One" at Bombay Art Gallery. This will be the premiere of work from my new series.

Mark the dates.

Gallery One

2009-10-18T10:45:00.003+05:30

A new chapter in my attachment to India began last evening. Click on the link below (or in the sidebar) to read about the inauguration of Gallery One.

http://worksatone.blogspot.com

A Nude in the Living Room

2009-10-11T11:42:00.008+05:30

It was both surprising and flattering to find one of the miniatures created by R. Vijay and myself juxtaposed with a work by the classic Indian modernist F.N. Souza!

This article appeared in the September 26th Crest Edition of the Times of India, which circulates in Bombay and Delhi. The miniature reproduced is titled The Fountain.

A Prayer for Rain

2009-09-18T08:54:00.006+05:30

As much of the world knows, India has suffered from less than average rainfall this monsoon, particularly in northern states such as Bihar. The BBC aired a series of repetitive reports about India's drought which featured views of Udaipur's Lake Picholla completely dry.

As serious as the drought has been, and the irrefutable fact that the yearly monsoon is steadily weakening from the effects of global warming, it is also true that late monsoon rains have alleviated the worst of the this year's water shortage. Lake Picholla is now over half full, though reports of this never made the BBC.

This miniature was made at the time when we in Rajasthan worried most about the scarcity and lateness of the rains. The sky has turned to desert, offering not a drop. Omnipresent plastic water bottles speak of ongoing wastefulness and humanity's passive disregard for a sustainable environment. Shankar Kumawat's border creates a counterpoint to R. Vijay's dry lake...swirling monsoon clouds and a heavy downpour into lush waters filled with life.

Leela

2009-09-13T12:42:00.004+05:30

The above photograph, titled Azad Drinking, is one of four of my studio works that will appear in the new book Leela. This book is an interesting and beautiful compilation of erotic verse, taken from both ancient and modern Indian sources. The selection, translation, and commentary on the poetry is by Dr. Alka Pande, and the entire book is illustrated by a variety of Indian contemporary artists and photographers. I feel honoured to have had four of my photographs included.

Leela is published by Harper-Collins India. The official release of the book will be made by the French Ambassador at the French Cultural Centre on October 5th in New Delhi.

Lotuses and Crocodiles

2009-09-07T11:54:00.006+05:30

A recent miniature from the ongoing collaborations with artist R. Vijay of Udaipur. The gold border work by Shankar Kumawat is exceptional. As I prepare to leave Udaipur, and Rajasthan, (for a new studio in a more southern location), perhaps Lotuses and Crocodiles is the perfect metaphor for the past four years of life in this town.

Photo of the Day

2009-08-21T19:20:00.004+05:30

This recent photo that I call Chandra with a Shell Headdress certainly mimics the style and tradition of late 19th century exotica, and also keeps the "erotic" aura that so many of those photographs possessed. Funny thing is that while this image was being made, Chandra, our model from the village, was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone!

Coming this December

2009-08-09T15:35:00.010+05:30

Let it Load.

Then listen and watch.

It's in the Details

2009-07-29T18:04:00.008+05:30

These two images are details from a large panoramic miniature (9 x 34 inches) called A Journey with an End. Rakesh and I took a cue from the late Bhupen Khakhar, using the idea of a narrative painting...that in this case reads left to right.

I especially like these details of the three Indian men sitting and smoking beedis, and the final "scene" of the miniature with Thomas and I under the sheets with two of them. Look carefully at the transparency of the bed covers. The devil is certainly in the details.

Photo of the Day

2009-07-02T13:19:00.003+05:30

In the course of exhibiting the work from the "A Studio in Rajasthan" series, I have often found myself repeating the following lines, "The photographs are painted by a third generation Rajasthani hand-colourist named Rajesh Soni. Rajesh is the grandson of Prabhu Lal Soni, who was once court photographer to the Maharaja Bhopal Singh of Mewar".

I'm afraid the continual repetition of this information has caused it to lose some of its meaning. Rajesh is indeed a talented and extremely energetic young artist. His skills were passed on to him by his father, who is also an artist and photographer. Rajesh recounts that as a young boy his father told him to draw eyes. He was asked to draw eyes again and again. His father told him, "Draw the eyes until you are no longer looking at them, draw the eyes until they are looking at you."

Rajesh Soni's skill as a draughtsman is superb. Personally, I feel the way he subtly tints my photographs is exceptional. Other craftsmen have tried, but none have succeeded. Rajesh remains my premiere collaborator.

Here is Rajesh, posing as "The Artist". Oddly enough the painting on the easel is not his own, but borrowed from a local antique store.

A Look Inside the Genoa Exhibition

2009-05-08T02:29:00.004+05:30

For a short walk up Vico del Fieno in Genoa, Italy, and a view inside Galleria Joyce and Co.'s presentation of "A Studio in Rajasthan", just click on the YouTube link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga_FiUMcwas

Collectors Party - Amsterdam

2009-05-04T18:45:00.004+05:30

This past Saturday my Amsterdam friends (and collectors) Patrick Van Son and Marischka Leenaers hosted a fabulous small garden/dinner party. Invited were a few of the folks in Amsterdam who have added my art to their collections. It was the weekend of the Queen's Birthday, so some people could not make it...like Venita and Prakash and the handsome polo player Raja...oh well, we missed them.

If you care to see all of the photos, check out my Flickr page, or just click on the link below...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10968869@N08/sets/72157617673322042/

Mostra Italia

2009-04-13T15:54:00.006+05:30

Maurizio Vallebona

Invito alla Vernissage di Inaugurazione:

Waswo "A Studio in Rajasthan"
Venerdi 17 Aprile 2009
dalle ore 18h alle ore 21h

17 Aprile - 17 Maggio

Galleria Joyce & Co
Vico del Fieno 13r
16123 Genova
Tel. 010-2469217

A Lost Book Found

2009-04-09T21:02:00.014+05:30

I received a very welcome email from the Milwaukee Public Library the other day. After more than two years of disappearance, the folio Encounters has resurfaced and is in its rightful place in the Rare Books room. Encounters was a folio of seven poems illuminated by Rajasthani painters from Udaipur. It also contains a print of Rama in a Jungle Pool. The Encounters folio was released in an edition of three, one of which was bought by a private collector and the other two taken by libraries.

If you happen to live near Milwaukee, you can view this "artist book" of mine at the Central Library (Rare Books room).

A more complete collection of my artist books are in the Special Collections room of the Golda Meier Library at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. They enclude the folios Paris, Encounters, and Natura Morta.

Representation in Italy

2009-04-04T14:45:00.004+05:30

Photographic work from the A Studio in Rajasthan series is now represented in Italy exclusively by:

Il lavoro fotografico della seria A Studio in Rajasthan e' ora rappresentato in Italia esclusivamente da:

Galleria Joyce & Co.

Vico del Fieno, 13r
16123 Genoa
Italy

tel: +39-010-2469217 e-mail: maurizio.vallebona@libero.it

Waswo in the Washington Post

2009-03-24T12:49:00.003+05:30

To my surprise a reporter from the Washington Post, who attended last Saturday's colloquium in New Delhi, used my talk as the lead to her story.

Link below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032302834.html

Colloquium, New Delhi

2009-03-22T13:04:00.006+05:30

Devi Art Foundation and the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University invites you to the second colloquium as a part of the exhibition, ‘Where in the World’,

Ideas, Execution and Today’s Artist

Photographer Waswo X. Waswo speaks about the collaborative nature of his practice and Lawrence Liang of the Alternative Law Forum will discuss the new subjectivity of the artist, along with a presentation by one of the student curators.

on
21st of March, 2009,
at 2.00 p.m. at
the School of Arts and Aesthetics Auditorium,
Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Baba Gangnath Marg, North Gate

The Difference of Hand Colouring

2009-03-14T20:00:00.008+05:30

I thought it would be interesting to post these two images one beneath the next. The Chara Tala Walla (loose translation: "The Man who Sells Hay from a Cart") has become one of my favorites. I loved it as soon as the photograph was shot, and think the straight black and white print is stunning. Once it was hand painted by Rajesh Soni however, the image became truly magical. Sadly these webviews never look near as nice as the original photographs, but they give an idea.

Photo of the Day

2009-03-10T21:11:00.003+05:30

I was tired of this backdrop, and planning on ripping it down right after Holi. But these three village boys dropped over demanding to have their photo taken. OK, I made them happy.

Small is the New Big

2009-03-10T19:37:00.008+05:30

I don't often use this blog to post personal opinions, but after reading a line in the online edition of the New York Times I just had to offer my thoughts. Apologies are made that I'm not sure in which exact article it appeared, but the gist was that at a recent New York international art fair one particular gallery displayed the sign: "Small is the New Big". As one of those artists who has resisted the contemporary art market dictum that size sells, the thought expressed in that sign hit home.

Yes, the thought on this gallery's sign was certainly offered for the wrong reasons. The art market, like everything else, is down. Even the better-heeled collectors are hesitating at buying super-sized canvasses, sculptures, and photographs (that carry equally super-sized price tags). Such works have been a standard on the international art circuit for nearly three decades.

And now, in this fading economy, small works can be packaged and sold as much more affordable, and perhaps, an equally exciting investment opportunity.

But the message "Small is the New Big" is a powerful one. Are we finally over the days that artists have been pressured by their galleries and dealers to create "museum size" work? I never quite understood what "museum size" refers to. "Wallpower" is another much bantered about term. It seemed for a long time that, if dear Mona Lisa were offered to a dealer in the contemporary art market (or a Paul Klee), they would be completely snubbed for being too puny.

Any artist worth his salt knows that quality is not a matter of size, and that "wallpower" is never as important as "statement power", "craft power", "concept power" and "aesthetic power".

The art market may finally be giving smaller-sized works a fair look, even if it is for the wrong reason of marketability in a depressed economy. But for those of us who think of ourselves as artists, we always knew that art was not to be measured by the square meter.

Photo of the Day

2009-02-28T18:41:00.012+05:30

It always strikes me how serious, if not sad, people who sell balloons and other cheap toys to children seem to be. This man that Ganpat and I encountered at the Chandpol chai shop proved no exception. Considering that balloons sell for maybe 5 rupees a piece (at the most), it is no wonder there is a lack of joy in this work. Our model was happy to receive the 300 rupee modeling fee we offer locals for half an hour of work.

The backdrop to this photo is painted by Chiman Dangi of Jodhpur. He based the design of the peacock on a similar peacock in a photo taken by Jyoti Bhatt in Rajasthan in 1989. Ganpat brought a village woman to the studio to create the traditional cow-dung gobber floor, and Chiman then created the rongoli designs with powder.

Photo of the Day

2009-02-15T14:45:00.004+05:30

He was 88 years old, and claimed to have once acted in a Bollywood movie. Possible? Ganpat and I met him at the chai shop near Chandpole gate in Udaipur.

Photo of the Day

2009-02-08T22:15:00.005+05:30

A young girl named Sapna was dressed up as the Hindu heroine Sita, begging for a little money in the Udaipur Streets. She was accompanied by her younger brother, Sauresh, who was dressed as Hanuman. I call this image simply Sapna Dressed as Sita.

flip card: Krishna Fanning and Fluting

2009-02-08T21:40:00.008+05:30

See him move! Just like real life!

A little old fashioned fun in the studio. To see "Madame X." in all her flip card finery, go to my YouTube channel at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/waswoxwaswo

CNN-IBN

2009-02-08T21:34:00.005+05:30

I don't know how much longer this will remain on their website, but here is the link to the CNN-IBN coverage of my show at Palette Art Gallery in New Delhi.

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/84367/despite-recession-few-artists-see-brighter-shades.html

It's worth the view.

Photo of the Day

2009-02-03T13:07:00.006+05:30

New model Aslam joined Azad yesterday for some shooting. The result was Aslam under a Chakri as well as some other photos not shown.

Voice of America

2009-02-01T10:56:00.005+05:30

To read a good article on the exhibition of A Studio in Rajasthan at Palette Art Gallery, and to see a great slideshow of images, click on the link below:

http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-01-30-voa22.cfm

To hear the piece as it originally aired, click on the audio link below:

http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/english/2009_01/audio/mp3/Elmasry-Studio-in-Rajasthan-013009_0.mp3

My thanks to Faiza Elmasry and all the good folks at Voice of America.

Whirling Out of Context ?

2009-02-01T08:55:00.008+05:30

Well we have all heard the claim, "I was quoted out of context!" But in the case above I wonder if I was quoted correctly at all! Would love to hear what is actually on the digital recorder of that reporter!

"I don't like this attitude of people here." ?? Did I really say those things? I'm sure if I did it was in the context of a much larger discussion and explanation.

But so much for the gossip reporters.

Note: I am not in the photos. Strange, since the preview was for an exhibition of my art. But then again, my friend and aspiring model Krishna is in the photos...bottom center.

For more Palette Art Gallery party pix, check out the Waswo X. Waswo Flickr site. The link is on this blog's sidebar. Look for "Waswo on Flickr".

The Delhi Show

2009-01-04T13:36:00.005+05:30

It is hard to believe, but the exhibition in New Delhi is now barely a week away. A Studio in Rajasthan opens at Palette Art Gallery with an invitation-only preview on Wednesday, January 14th, and opens to the public on January 16th. The exhibition of autobiographical miniatures (made in collaboration with Rakesh Vijay) and hand-coloured photographs (made in collaboration with Rajesh Soni) continues through February 6th.

The miniature painting above is titled I See Myself as Laxmi.

Palette Art Gallery is located at 14, Golf Links, New Delhi.
phone: +91 (0) 11 - 417 43034

Photo of the Day

2009-01-04T13:21:00.008+05:30

We actually made this photo a few weeks ago, but never did get a chance to upload it. The young man is my chawkadar (security guard), Ganpat. The village designs of the backdrop were painted by Chiman Dangi and Ramdev Meena.

I call this photo Ganpat as a Village Man.

Photo of the Day - The Chara Wallah

2008-12-22T16:08:00.004+05:30

This is the season for plenty of chara (hay) coming from the farms that surround Udaipur. The hay is brought into the city on a tala, which is a four-wheeled cart. This man, whose name was Laxman, helped create this photo with a little feigned effort at pulling. He was quite the good actor.

The Kashi Show on YouTube

2008-12-19T16:55:00.005+05:30

A short documentary made by Mahesh Manohar called A Studio in Rajasthan comes to Kochi is now on YouTube at the link below.

http://in.youtube.com/profile?user=waswoxwaswo&view=videos

It's twenty minutes long, and shows preparations for the show, the arrival of Rajesh Soni and Rakesh Vijay (my collaborators), as well as Tommy and I just lounging around! Part 1 is primarily the framing and installation of the exhibition, parts 2 and 3 show the opening day and party, and part 4 is just a small bit of my 55th birthday, held at the home of gallery owners Anoop Skaria and Dorrie Younger.

If you've got twenty minutes to view it from beginning to end it is rather fun to watch. Thanks Mahesh!

The Power of Black and White

2008-12-14T15:00:00.005+05:30

Though it's been thrilling to experiment with hand-colouring (in partnership with my collaborator Rajesh Soni) it is sometimes good to remember the enormous power of a straight black and white image. This photograph, which is titled Villager on a Charpoy, seems particularly strong without coloration. A charpoy is a small cot, like the one seen in the photo.

Off Hold and On the Road

2008-12-09T18:00:00.008+05:30

It has been a long time since I blogged. Finally, the galleries have taken my new work off "hold status" (where I was not to show it around before the official premiere).

Below are a few good links, where you can see some of the new work and also read about it.

My new and improved website at:

www.waswoxwaswo.net

The website of Kashi Art Gallery:

www.kashiartgallery.com

And a very good article here:

http://www.artconcerns.com/html/feature1_waswo_renu.htm

Enjoy the looking, and more soon!

On Hold

2008-03-27T16:12:00.009+05:30

Well, this has never happened to me before, but I have been officially put "on hold" by the two galleries that are currently working with me.

To explain...being "on hold" means that I am not to sell new work, or even share it, until the official premiere.

If you have wondered why this blog has been so inactive of late, being "on hold" is the prime reason.

In the meantime, what I can tell you is this:

W a s w o X. W a s w o

A Studio in Rajasthan
(collaborations)

2008
November 15th through December 6th
Kashi Art Gallery
Bazaar Road, Mattancherry
Kochi

2009
January 11th through 25th
Palette Art Gallery
14 golf links
New Delhi

Photo of the Day

2007-11-29T17:59:00.001+05:30

Here is today's studio shot...one I particularly like.

Thoughts on the Salon

2007-11-14T19:27:00.000+05:30

It is the last day of the Amsterdam show, and I am just killing a little time before the final party this evening.

Showing my work in this incredibly beautiful Amsterdam home has caused me to rethink a few things about “exhibition space” and the demands of the gallery system as we know it today.

I had at first been reluctant to accept the invitation to exhibit in a private home…even one as grand as this one…since like many other artists I have been conditioned to think that galleries and museums are the only venues worthy of my attention. But this exhibition has proved successful not only from a financial and social perspective, but from an aesthetic one as well. It seemed that my photography, drawing as it does on late 19th century composition, technique, and “feel”, was actually enhanced in the ambiance of a grand European parlour with long and luxurious draperies, antique tables, lamps, etc.

Should younger artists reconsider the possibility of the private “salon”? Is the private salon an ideal tactic for circumventing the oftentimes unfair and seemingly random exclusionary practices of the gallery system? In a contemporary art world that habitually ignores good work in favour of what is trendy and/or marketable, is the private salon a desirable and viable option?

It is worth more thought. For now, I know my first “salon” in Amsterdam has been extremely thought provoking and successful.

The Amsterdam Show

2007-11-01T19:46:00.000+05:30

This Sunday morning I fly out of Udaipur and head to the Netherlands via Delhi. My hosts in Amsterdam will be Patrick van Son and Marischka Leenaers, who have arranged for an exhibition of over 40 of my photographs in their beautiful, traditional, Amsterdam home.

This exhibition opens with a special, invitation only, Indian buffet on Diwali next Friday.

Both sepia-toned chemical process prints, and a very few hand-colored digital images will be included in this show. Above: Cricket Practice - Goa and An English Woman with Her Lover.

If you should happen to be in Amsterdam, below is all the information you need (if you read Dutch).

UITNODIGING
EXPOSITIE
bij
Patrick van Son & Marischka Leenaers

WASWO X. WASWO
Selected Photographic Work from India

Tijdens onze laatste reis door India ontmoetten wij Waswo, een Amerikaanse fotograaf,
die al vele jaren in India woont en werkt.
Hij exposeert in galeries en musea in India en Amerika.

Zijn werk spreekt ons bijzonder aan, daarom organiseren wij in ons huis een expositie met 40 van zijn mooiste foto’s.

De expositie vindt plaats van zaterdag 10 november tot en met woensdag 14 november 2007.
Openingstijden: zaterdag en zondag 12.00-19.00 uur, maandag t/m woensdag 19.00-22.00 uur (en op afspraak).

De tentoonstelling wordt zaterdag om 13.00 uur feestelijk geopend.

Waswo is zelf op alle dagen aanwezig en licht zijn werk graag toe.
Voor meer informatie over zijn werk: www.waswoxwaswo.net

Sarphatipark 92
1073 EB Amsterdam
020-6752533

Minoo in her Finery

2007-10-29T08:02:00.000+05:30

A few days after Eid, my friend (and fellow artist), Shahid Parvez, came over to Chinar Villa with his wife Minoo. At my request they had both dressed in their most elegant clothes, and we proceeded to make a few photographs in the studio. The above photo is of Minoo. She looks to me almost Spanish or Mexican in this picture (Frida Kahlo comes to my mind). Perhaps the photo is a reminder of how much closer our various cultures are than we sometimes think.

Photos of the Day

2007-10-17T13:26:00.000+05:30

Well, Ramadan finally came to a finish, and with it the wailing sirens that had announced the beginning and end to each day's fast. As the sun set on the last day of Ramadan, crackers burst like crazy from the small Muslim neighborhood that lies directly below Chinar Villa. I sat with my friend Jarka Heller and and we enjoyed the view and sound and colors of so many fireworks.

The next day, Sunday, was Eid. It was totally surprising how many boys made their way up the hill that day just to have their photos snapped in the studio while they were all dressed up.

Above are two small vignettes I made of friends Tosif and Tarif.

Three books now available....

2007-09-06T16:27:00.006+05:30

Well, after a long, long time, I've finally decided to get back to my blog. The exhibitions in the USA kept me busy during the summer months, and since my return to India I've been more than a little busy in the studio.

Before getting into my new projects, I just wanted to make a reminder that there are now three books of mine for sale via the Net. These books can be ordered online and shipped to most any place in the world.

You can read all about our adventures in Italy and surroundings in the European Journal, available here...

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=879667

You can also enjoy a very self-confessional little tale about my first dabbles in digital photography in A Three Megapixel Journal, available here...

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=879667

And of course you can find the wonderfully deluxe Gallerie Publishers edition to India Poems: The Photographs at numerous websites and bookstores around the world. One place to start looking is here...but make sure you look for the "Gallerie Publishers" or "Art Books International" edition. ISBN 81-901999-2-7

http://www.amazon.com/

or

http://www.art-bks.com/

The older Rooftop Vistas version of India Poems: The Photographs can be purchased via the "Waswo Book Sales" link in this blog's sidebar. But I myself would recommend the new Gallerie Publishers edition, which features a larger format and rich tri-tone reproductions.

Happy shopping!

Waswo X. Waswo: Two Exhibitions

2007-06-16T19:28:00.001+05:30

Two upcoming exhibitions opening soon...

India Poems: The Photographs of Milwaukee Artist Waswo X. Waswo

The Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Opening reception: Thursday, June 28th, 6pm.

Exhibition runs through September 23rd, 2007.

A Studio in Rajasthan: New Work by Waswo X. Waswo
Grava Gallery, 207 East Buffalo Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA
Opening reception: Friday, July 13th, 6pm to 9pm
Exhibition runs through September 1st, 2007

Fisherman - Cochin

2006-12-05T21:10:00.000+05:30

In just a few more days I leave Rajasthan again, heading south to Bombay (a book-signing), Goa (Tommy and my Dad), and finally Cochin (yet another book-signing). Looking at this strong Muslim fisherman from my book of photographs (his name is Anish), made me long for warmer climes among other things. Udaipur is getting downright cold these days, especially at night.

Just as a reminder, the new Gallerie Publisher's edition of India Poems: The Photographs is now on sale throughout India, in such places as Gangaram's Bookstore in Bangalore, The Strand Bookstore in Bombay, Idiom Booksellers in Cochin, The Bookstores at the Taj Hotels in Mumbai and Agra, and elsewhere.

If you are living in the USA, you can order the new edition through Grava Gallery by calling 414-277-8228.

Untitled Portrait with an Untitled Portrait

2006-11-15T16:05:00.000+05:30

Well, after a long hiatus I'm back to my blog. October was taken up with preparations for my exhibition at the Bombay Art Gallery, and later, its aftermath. To learn more, please visit the following http://www.artconcerns.com/html/interview_waswo.htm

Pictured above is a new self-portrait, commissioned by India's Verve magazine for the January issue. I call it Untitled Portrait with an Untitled Portrait.

My Photo of the Taj Mahal

2006-07-06T08:04:00.000+05:30

Here's my photo of the Taj Mahal. Oops, no it's not. Did I fool you? Though at first glance this may look like the Taj Mahal, it is actually the Bibi Ka Maqbara, also known as "the poor man's Taj". It was built in the Maharashtrian city of Aurangabad in the late 17th century by Prince Azam Shah, son of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

I think this photo says a lot about the way we perceive things. Because it is shot in the manner that the real Taj is so often shot...the classic view that has become such a cliche...we immediately see "The Taj Mahal" at first glance.

I've yet to visit the real Taj. When I do, I hope to make an original photograph of it. That is quite a goal to set for oneself, considering that the real Taj is one of the most photographed structures in the world.

The Fish Ballet

2006-06-23T11:16:00.000+05:30

On my recent visit to Goa I found these two men fishing, in a small inlet of the sea, near the village of Asvim. With a net stretched between two lengths of wood, they set their homemade trap in the water and waited patiently for several minutes, after which they would raise the net, bring it together, and inspect its contents. The whole process was beautiful to watch in the fading light of late afternoon. The fishermen's movements were repetitive and graceful, and I found myself drawing comparisons to ballet or modern dance.

Studio Portraits

2006-05-31T14:47:00.000+05:30

This is the sort of old studio portrait that I love to collect. Who are these people? Husband and wife most likely...but perhaps brother and sister. Their anonymity adds to the intrigue. The composition, vintage tonalities, aged mount and timeworn surface all add to the allure.

Raja Lala Deen Dayal

2006-05-27T19:52:00.000+05:30

Over the past several years, slowly but surely, I have been compiling a collection of late 19th Century and early 20th Century Indian portrait photography. The above photo is a recent acquisition, bought from an antique dealer in Udaipur. It shows the Maharaja Pratap Singh of the former princely state of Bansda, now part of Gujarat. This photo was made circa 1901, by the famed studio of Raja Lala Deen Dayal in Bombay. Though my collection has a few such royal personalities, I am most attracted to the studio portraits of more average citizens, such as shopkeepers, advocates, doctors, and housewives.

A Wedding in Rajasthan

2006-04-12T16:06:00.000+05:30

Here in Udaipur we have just finished the "marriage season". A high number of Indian marriages happen during the month of March, due to custom and astrological dictates. Tommy and I love the wedding processions that wind through the little streets of Udaipur during this time. The groom is always seated upon a horse, there is sure to be a noisy brass band playing chaotic music on battered instruments, and the women folk follow the whole procession carrying electric lamps attached to a gasoline-powered generator. The boys join in the fun by dancing up a sweat, usually with each other, since to publicly dance with an unrelated member of the opposite sex in Rajasthan would be considered taboo!

Lighting Candles

2006-04-02T07:46:00.000+05:30

"Child labor" is often one of the first things Westerners, especially those of us with a liberal bias, associate with India. Images of small children working long hours in sweatshops that manufacture athletic shoes for multi-national corporations come to mind. The truth is, most of the hundreds of thousands of children who work in India do much simpler chores. They run chai down the street for their uncle who owns a tea shop. They help their mothers collect cow dung and mold it into patties (used for cooking and heating) that are then sold to the neighbors. They sell post cards in the streets to tourists, as Sreenu himself did when he was the age of twelve.

The boy in these photos moved through our lives so quickly he will forever remain anonymous. He sells small candles for five rupees each (about a dime), that are used by pilgrims in Varanasi to cast with prayers into the river Ganges. As Sreenu and I took a late evening boat ride from ghat to ghat, this boy hopped unannounced into our boat, sold us a few candles, and hopped out again. In so many ways he typifies the truth of child labor in this country. The money he earns will surely go to help his family survive.

Having lived in India for an extended period of time, seeing small children working no longer holds any surprise. In ways I've come to accept it as a part of this culture. To be honest, I now feel more shock and disgust at the pampered teens I encounter back in the U.S.A., who, pushing twenty, have never worked a day in their lives. My perspective has changed, and the "child labor" of India now seems quite normal. It is a complex issue that revolves around education, poverty level, and family and societal responsibility.

It would be nice to live in a world without poverty. In the meantime we light candles. The day after these photos were taken I returned early in the morning to the Ganga, bought one hundred candles, and had them floated in the early light of dawn.

Photos of the Day

2006-03-03T13:56:00.000+05:30

Holding a Mirror for Viewing and Viewing Buddha by the Light of a Mirror were recently made with a Nikon Coolpix as I travelled with my taxi driver Mukesh from Bombay to our Udaipur home, via the Indian state of Maharashtra. These images were made at the archeological site of Ellora, the famous "cave temples". With no electricity or torches within the temples, people like these middle-class Indian tourists enjoy their viewing with the help of a man reflecting the sunlight via a mirror.

from "India Poems: The Photographs"

2006-03-02T13:14:00.000+05:30

Taking a Photograph
Waswo X. Waswo
(excerpt from the book India Poems: The Photographs)

I was walking, camera in hand, down the narrow road that cuts through the warehouse district in Cochin. This area is named Mattancherry, and through it floats the aromas of cinnamon and pepper and cardamom, the spices that for centuries have been hauled from plantations in the Keralan hills. These spices made Cochin (now properly known as Kochi) the gateway between India’s Malabar Coast and the markets of the West.

When photographing, I tend to carry my Rolleiflex in a simple plastic or paper bag rather than in a slickly manufactured camera case. It’s impossible not to be perceived as a tourist in a place like India, where skin color makes a Westerner immediately recognizable. But keeping my camera in a paper bag at least helps to avoid the more nasty stereotypes of the tourist-photographer.

I remember some years ago walking through our small Goan village of Arambol and seeing a tourist woman creeping about one of the village homes. Without warning, she thrust a huge telephoto lens through an open kitchen window. Click, click, click. I guess she was thinking of “capturing” some of the locals as candidly as possible (eating? cooking? sleeping?). The sight of this woman infringing on the privacy of others so aggressively and casually sent revulsion through my entire being. What was she doing? Hunting big game? Were the people in this small village home just a quarry to be stalked, a trophy later to be mounted on the wall? It was one of those moments when I felt ashamed to be linked with this thing we call photography. We photographers “shoot” and “capture”. We may insist that we “make” a photograph, but everyone knows we really take them.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I was walking, camera in hand, down a narrow road in Mattancherry. There was a point along the road where everything came together aesthetically. The light was right, the historic buildings perfectly suited this book “India Poems” that I was already conceiving in my head, there were a number of people doing things like reading newspapers, loading handcarts, or drinking chai. I pulled the Rollei from my bag and started eyeing up various scenes, gazing downward through the magnifier that enlarges the image that appears on the camera’s ground glass. Very soon, my camera and I were noticed.

I think Indians must be the most eager people in the world to be photographed. With very few exceptions, Indians have posed for my camera with an enthusiasm that is sometimes hard to contain. In fact, a better part of my assistant’s job has been to help keep people out of the picture. Children especially seem to love jumping into a photo at just the wrong moment.

But here, on this street in Mattancherry, the work-a-day people gave me scant attention. They all had seen tourists before. They all had their own jobs to do. The man reading the newspaper glanced up briefly to register my presence, and immediately returned to the article he was engrossed in. Without asking, I made a photograph of him. He knew it. He didn’t care. He looked up and smiled at me and I gave back a wave. At the same moment a couple of young boys came up behind me and proceeded with the usual school-taught English, “What is your name? What is your country?” They wanted to take a look through my camera so I let them. The Rolleiflex is battered and a bit of an antique. Not the sort of camera that usually dangles from white tourists.

The Rolleiflex is also straightforward and honest. It’s a camera that was never designed to peep around corners or poke through windows. To make a portrait with a Rolleiflex a photographer must get close to his subject. There is no zoom lens. With a Rolleiflex a person knows that he is being observed and that a photographer is in his midst. An individual can then choose to pose for the attentions of the Rolleiflex or ignore it all together...but he or she becomes conscious of the choice.

As the children and I were busy exploring the street through a small machine whose lens put the chaos of their neighborhood into a nicely packaged square, I felt a soft tapping against my side. A man whose arm terminated abruptly near the wrist was touching the stump of it to my waist, gently trying to get my attention. He didn’t speak English, but it was obvious he wanted to be photographed. When I aimed the Rollei toward him he grinned a very happy grin and moved back to pose against some closed wooden doors.

This man, this photo, became what I call Untitled Portrait - Cochin. The photograph is untitled because there are simply no words that I could think of that would add to what the image already says. People sometimes ask, “Why did you cut off that man’s head?” Well, in actuality I made two portraits of him. The first included his head. But by this time he was no longer smiling and had assumed the tense unnaturalness so many people acquire when facing a lens. I don’t know what motivated me to move the camera downwards for the second shot and focus upon his torso and limbs. A photographer’s instinct I guess. I knew at once it was by far the better image.

This man was probably somebody’s grandfather. He had a name, a smile, a personality. If he had spoken English I might have come to know him. But except for our brief encounter he remains just another of the myriads of cripples, amputees and lepers that are encountered on the streets of India. Do any of us...tourists and middle class Indians alike...ever really bother to look at their faces? Even when we toss a few coins to the roadside beggar, the one with no legs, do we bother to register his face, his existence, in our minds? Perhaps this is why I chose to “cut off” this man’s head. It is after all something each of us does each day. We strip the poor and the deformed of their individuality, never really wanting to look them in the eye.

I don’t feel that I took this photograph. I feel the man gave it to me. But I have no idea if he would approve of it hanging on a gallery wall or being critiqued within a book. So I join the ranks of the woman who peers through kitchen windows with a long zoom lens. We photographers are a despicable bunch. We take photographs. The best of us do not show people as they wish to be seen, instead, we show people as we imagine they really are. We try to find an essence. The final image, the statement, is what counts. We long to make images that give to our viewers a new awareness, a deeper reflection, a thrilling revelation. Take and give. We also, all photographers, box up reality in neat little parcels that contain only what we wish them to contain. Those pieces of reality that don’t fit nicely our square and rectangular gift packages are simply left out.

The main thing, always, is the final creation.

Arguments on the ethics of photography can fill volumes. But you know, if I walked into a gallery and saw the most incredible and enlightening photographs I had ever seen, and realized, suddenly, these images were made by a woman sticking her lens surreptitiously through a kitchen window...

I would forgive her.

from "India Poems"

2006-03-01T11:43:00.000+05:30

When you first come to India
you think it barbaric
to shit by squatting
like some animal
spreading shaky legs to the ground.
Your restaurant’s porcelain toilet,
flat to the floor,
seems filthy and ridiculous.
How can you straddle this thing
without stepping
in somebody else's piss?
It is no longer an easy matter
of dropping trousers
and sitting on a throne.
You must balance fully on your toes,
aim for the hole,
pull clothes out of the line of fire.
This takes practice.
At first it is easier
to completely remove your pants.
When you wash your ass
you learn
to hold the water pitcher in your right hand
spread your legs wide
and pour a cleansing stream down your bent-forward back.
The rivulets will drizzle between your cheeks
as your left hand reaches between your legs
and scrubs your butt.
The touch of your asshole
on the tips of your wet fingers
becomes familiar.
After,
you learn to lather your hands
fragrant
with soap and icy cold water.

When you first come to India
you think it barbaric
to crap by squatting,
to wipe shit away
with your own naked skin.
You look with suspicion
at Indian palms,
become sensitive to what Indian fingers touch,
question how your food is prepared
in those dark, dingy kitchens.
You make the mistake
of grabbing a man's left hand to shake,
discover it is wet and cold,
and hold
it briefly
with a shiver of disgust.

When you first come to India
you think it barbaric
to shit by squatting.
But with the march of time,
night after night,
you suddenly realize
it is natural and right.
Those ridiculous kings
on their English thrones,
reading their newspapers—
for hats they should have cones!
How can they really clean the shit away
if they only smear it with tissue
day after day?

I can’t help it.
I return to the U.S.A.
and think of dingleberries
on all those proud, moneyed,
unwashed asses.

from "India Poems"

2006-03-01T08:19:00.000+05:30

The sugar cane field
shakes and rattles
three oxcarts
with wooden wheels.

Two women
toss chaff to the air
catching good wheat
in worn baskets.

At the rice paddy
bent workers sing,
the brown water
shines laboring ankles and wrists.

In the sky, and Indian eagle
with wings like outstretched hands,
hovers,
motionless.