Reimagining Nature: Poetics of Viewing by Anil Annaiah

Cotton Candy by Anil Annaiah 

Bangalore based filmmaker, writer, photographer and storyteller Anil Anaiah has been passionately rooting for nature for several decades now. His upcoming exhibition of photographs and short films have been curated by me, and will be on view from 21st - 23rd April 2023 at Devaraj Urs Gallery, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath Bengaluru.

While appearing to be nature photographs at the first instance, all images have been taken with a purpose. The idea behind it is to reveal details which are invisible to the naked eye and to encourage everyone to really observe and engage with nature in order to take further action that can support and conserve the natural world around us.

Anil's artistic projects have centered around ‘nature is art’ where he encourages positive actions that are aligned with the Sustainable Development (SDGs), through artworks which include photographs, documentaries, videos and also a citizen science initiative. In the past, he has also contributed towards socially relevant campaigns around autism and waste management.

The upcoming exhibition 'Reimagining Nature: Poetics of Viewing' coincides with Earth Day 2023, and is a celebration of Anil’s decade long journey, where he has presented his collection of nature photographs and films in a public exhibition on every Earth Day, since 2014.

The collection features early photographic works that are based on macro-photography and capture stunning magnified views of flora and foliage, offering deeper insights into the aesthetics and science of natural elements. While later works depict blurred or defocused images which appear to be abstracted paintings. The short films are conceptual and capture moving images with textual overlay as ‘thought quotes’ broadly referring to ‘Invest in our planet’, the official theme for this Earth Day, and as a call for action.

Anil believes that simple acts of observation can make one curious to know more about nature and thus act responsibly and discover their inner reflections as Changemakers. With even simple mobile phones one can take photographs and express their creativity and be a part of the changemaker movement. He will also be exhibiting a collection of photographs that has been shot on the iPhone and are exquisitely detailed. 

He elaborates, “Biodiversity loss and Climate Change are the greatest issues we face today. And, you can play an active role in its mitigation by participating in our Art, Storytelling and Citizen Science Experience."

The Pink River by Anil Annaiah

 
About Anil Annaiah

His work from the last two decades has been about conceiving and contributing to diverse assignments as a photographer, creative strategist, writer & filmmaker. He aspires to bridge the gap between the two worlds he works with, the Corporate and the Social Development sector and offer a powerful synergy to build social goodness with communication ideas.

Anil is passionate about developing ideas for creative engagements to build new Changemakers. He continuously explores possibilities to build participative platforms for social sustainability. His diverse experience & collective knowledge from the last two decades, lends him rich communications expertise.

His concept of “Nature is Art for Conservation” with “Discovering Science Through The Lens” presents an innovative Art & Citizen Science Experience Project. This invites people to fall in love with nature all over again and discover their inner reflections as Changemakers. “Art, Nature, Science and You (ANSY)”. The joy of holding a Camera and the endless moments of peace you can soak yourself in gives you the opportunity to do Camera Yoga. This Earth Day 2023 brings in the 10th Consecutive Year.


About the Curator

Nalini S Malaviya is a Bangalore based curator and writer. In addition to curating contemporary art exhibitions, she offers curatorial and advisory services to individuals and corporate, facilitating art acquisition. She has been writing for the media since 2003, and has been an art columnist for leading newspapers. She has contributed to Financial Times, Times of India, Bangalore Mirror, Deccan Herald, several art magazines and artist books, among other publications. She contributed ‘An Art Sojourn’, an essay on Yusuf Arakkal, which was translated in Kannada and published as a chapter in the artist book.

Nalini is the Founder/Publisher of Art Scene India, www.artsceneindia.com, which was established in 2006 as a blog, and which has evolved into a significant resource site and a digital archive, with extensive documentation of the Indian art scene over the last 16 years.

Some of her curatorial projects include the recently concluded solo artist project ‘Interwoven’, an exhibition of tapestries and drawings by senior artist SG Vasudev, ‘Enchanted Breath’, ‘Convergence,’ ‘Bend’, ‘Parallax of Visual Memories’, ‘Reimagining: (Un)Reality and Space’, 'Irreverent Gene' and ‘Polynomials of Relevance’ with leading contemporary artists from across the country.

 
To coincide with Earth Day 2023, the exhibition ‘Reimagining Nature: Poetics of Viewing’ by Anil Annaiah features a collection of Fine Art Photographs and Short Films from 2014 to 2023, curated by Nalini S Malaviya

Exhibition details: 21st, 22nd & 23rd April 2023 at Devaraj Urs Gallery, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath Bengaluru

Contact Anil Annaiah: Email: anilannaiah@yahoo.com, Ph: 99807 40118

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Also read,

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The 'Reality' of Photo Art Today

   The 'Reality' of Photo Art Today

by

Shibu Arakkal

“The greater the number of people who share a subjective opinion in favour of a work of art, the greater the possibility of that work becoming timeless”

Hiroshi Sugimoto Boden Sea

Beginning this article with a quote of my own might seem self-absorbed but the quote itself is my distilled understanding of my learnings about art, having spent the greater portion of my life around art and artists and to later specialising in it as my medium of practice.

This article is my response to John Raymond Mireles’ article on petapixel.com titled ‘Why Photographers Don’t Get Modern Art’, which I found touched on many aspects of Contemporary Art which are close to my heart.

Before I make my way to contemporary photographic art, I would like to mention my dad’s (Yusuf Arakkal) words (possibly someone else’s originally), who is no more and someone who was one of the very significant and relevant contemporary artists from post-independence India. He used to say that any work of art will only be judged by time and no one else. Much as I too believe that, the statement also seems to put current art in a bit of a quandary in the sense of what is widely agreeable, certainly about the credibility and calibre of art done over the last thirty odd years. As Mireles points out that most of the art done over this period, varying in styles and mediums has been rather vaguely termed Post-modernist. Noting Mireles’ article, the most common statement a lot of this kind of art has been faced with from its popular audience is ‘I could have done that too’, to which I go back to what my dad used to say, ‘But you didn’t’.

If I were to name widely agreed-upon greats as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Salvador Dali of a few, I would quite confidently say that there would be little subjectivity about the ‘great’ calibre of their work, not just in the art world but even with the art literate. This level of consensus on a type or specificity of art, I fear often comes after the artist’s time and in his day leads to much debate and quarrel about the true ‘greatness’ or calibre of the art itself.

Edward Steichen's 'Road into the Valley' | Negative 1904 / Print 1906

Man Ray's Portrait of Dora Maar | 1936

Irving Penn's Skulls | Late 1970s

Bill Brandt's 'Coal Searcher Going Home to Jarrow' | 1937

Up until the point when photography arrived on the scene, painting seemed to be the most ‘realistic’ art form but it obviously couldn’t compete with photography in that department. From then on painting seemed to get fervently preoccupied with philosophical and conceptual interpretations of reality in their widest as well as technical sense.

Annie Leibovitz | The Three Ghosts

Although photography due to its ‘realistic’ character became a medium of documentation, there have been several photographers who chose to use the medium artistically. Of the ones who have, I count Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Irving Penn, Bill Brandt and in more recent times, Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle, Cindy Sherman amongst others who seem to have succeeded by the earlier stated benchmark of subjectivity.

David LaChapelle 'Icarus' | 2012

 

Cindy Sherman's 'Untitled #305' | 1994

As Mireles mentions, stalwarts like Ansel Adams became the leaders of a modernist movement in photography, creating a style while crafting techniques that are relevant to this day.

Ansel Adams | Aspens Northern New Mexico | 1958

Until recently all two-dimensional visual art forms aiming to recreate or interpret reality have incorporated visually appreciable elements such as the subjective use of colour and contrast, creating an idea of composition relative to the viewing frame of the work itself, the use of lighting as an image enhancing element, amongst other things. This approach made the artwork distinctly ‘artistic' as opposed to faithfully realistic.

Even Photorealism in painting was a visual depiction of the way the camera or the lens saw reality with all the subjective artistic enhancements.

In photography, from Pictorialism to Modernism there was always a conscious effort made to heighten, if not strengthen these aspects of a photograph that made it more appreciable albeit not very realistic. To the point, that true realism was never seen as very interesting a visual idea.

With all art that is very ‘now’ such as a lot of new media or contemporary experimental work, I can’t honestly tell if the demand is due to the hype, which seems to be almost critical to the success of the work or if it is just the reality of the market. I do however feel strongly that in years to come, classical ideas of photography will stand on its own, even if in its own niche. And I think will also be regarded for its unique sensibility and aesthetic, simply because it has a visually rich tradition and processes, unlike any other print medium.

Thomas Demand's 'Clearing' | Gallery Display

Thomas Demand's 'Clearing' | Venice Biennale Display

I see photography's lead into new styles (or movements, we wait to find out) in the digital era that are either a very real interpretation of reality, visually faithful, devoid of artistic enhancements i.e. as the human memory remembers a seen visual, one that tries to harness the power of that memory and to somehow remain austere of those luxuries that we once considered appreciable, even fundamental.

Or tangentially giving rise to a concept such as Hyperrealism, where using, while pushing the boundaries, every available digitally technological means in creating images that are almost too sharp, with colour and contrast in their widest gamut ever seen in the history of photography. And to use photographs in their singular form or as multiples in stitching together, morphing, layering or making seamless digital collages that give one an illusion of a visual that could be real but isn’t really. Hyperrealism in its most experimental techniques challenges dimensions, the vertical and horizontal axes, space and in ways, time and fundamentally obliterates our secure bearings of visual comprehension. It is as much to be understood as accepted that photo editing and processing software from here on will be considered legitimately complimentary tools to photography and not as has been, an unholy convenience or an impurity in the process. This is especially where my views differ from those of Mireles’.

Lee Jeffries' Hyperrealistic Series on Homeless Children

The new wave of western painters seem to already have eagerly embraced these two styles of visual interpretation and will hopefully further the basic premise and idea with more freedom. Especially given that painting unlike photography doesn't have the constraints of working with subjects that are already existent.

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About the Author: Shibu Arakkal is a ‘Lorenzo il Magnifico’ Gold Prize winning photo artist, based in Bangalore, who has practised his art for over twenty years, and has shown his work extensively in India and abroad. One might bump into him riding his motorcycle, or cross paths with him while he is satiating his travel yearnings. He is a self-admitted dog-lover and philosopher inspired always by his daughter Zarah. You can connect with him on facebook.com/ShibuArakkalPhotoArt.com and www.instagram.com/ShibuArakkal

All images are for reference purposes and have been sourced by the author from the Internet, mainly from the artists' websites, Facebook and Pinterest pages. Please view image details for the source.

Art Buzz: Finding Utopia, Mumbai

The Art Loft and Shoeb Mashadi present Finding Utopia (opening on 11th April 2014 at The Art Loft), a monochromatic noir journey into human emotions featuring supermodel Tamara Moss as the protagonist.

'A journal of everyday chaos and mundane chores - but you lift the veil, dig deeper and there are fragments of what lies inside each of us - the millions of questions about the uncertainty of life, a sense of loneliness and longing to belong to something or someone, or a longing to break free and wander to a road that draws us. To escape the neurosis of the mind and find comfort and security in dreams, dreaming on and on and never coming back - to escape from unrequited love.

This journal is a metaphor of the emotions, feelings and thoughts that are a part of personal experiences. In a candid, non linear narrative, the protagonist represents the morbid that lies in us all - deep within our subconscious. A realm of memories and a scar for life'.

Shoeb Mashadi, a fashion and portrait photographer based in Mumbai is noted for his strong individualistic style which is an eclectic mix of fine art and commercial portraiture and has photographed a number of celebrities and supermodels as well as shot for leading fashion designers, cult movie directors, prime television channels and internationally acclaimed restaurants. Last year, Shoeb Mashadi represented the country as one amongst ten photographers in the world who were selected to be a part of the TEDx photo chain, a part of the TEDx annual event held in Amsterdam, where his work was exhibited.

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