Celebrating Womanhood


Keeping in line with his travelogue series, Amean J’s third online exhibition, titled ‘Kopenhaven’ opened on his website recently. With the concept inspired by Garry Winogrand’s work on women, the photographer who inspired Amean to take up the art form, Kopenhaven (Copenhagen) provides a new insight into the photographic techniques of one of the industry’s most well-known photographers.

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly eye-catching about the photographs on exhibit. However, on a second, more closer look, the subjects (all women) in the photographs begin to unfold — they acquire more depth and personality, which in some cases is relatable and in others interesting to observe.

“I broke many rules of photography while documenting the women in Copenhagen. I took many photographs without looking through the view finder. This ensured that I did not lose the moment and it also allowed me to look beyond the frame. I strongly feel that one cannot look at the real world through a frame, a lot happens beyond it. The images from Prague take you into Berlin and images from Berlin builds up the mood for Copenhagen which is the finale in the series. So for me, it is the most important show of the three”, he says about the exhibition.

Coming back to the subject of the exhibition — women, it may be fair to say that Amean finds them fascinating. His perception of them, however, is pleasantly refreshing: none of them seem objectified in a manner most feminists may find offensive.

He seems to accept them, young and old, conventionally beautiful and not, the way they are. Amean sees perfection in women who otherwise seem engaged in their everyday life. This is precisely what one sees when going through the photos in the exhibition; women being celebrated for being just that — no matter what role they play.

Considering that photographing women on the streets was a major part of Winogrand’s own photographic work, does he think people will draw comparisons between Winogrand’s work and his own? “I would surely hope so, though I don’t see people from this part of the world drawing comparisons because people are not familiar with serious real-world photographers like Winogrand”, Amean replies, “For me this was also an exercise to educate our audiences by showing them different styles. They don’t have to like it but I think it’s good to expose oneself to different styles of work being practiced around the globe.”

Why did he choose Copenhagen in which to photograph women? “It was not pre-planned at all. For some strange reason I was noticing the different body languages of women on this particular shopping street and spontaneously decided to document these moves — Winogrand was obviously at the back of my mind,” he concludes.

First Published:
Images
July 14, 2007