You can't miss it if you are walking down Goubert Avenue (Beach Road) on the stretch where the back wall of the Institut Francais de Pondichery faces the sea. It's likely you'll find people standing around, gazing, reading, pointing and talking animatedly. Go over and you won't be disappointed at what you find. On the wall – a series of walls – is an exhibition of old portraits (photographs) from across Tamil Nadu, gathered under the title Heritage of the Family: Tamil Studio Portraiture (1880 – 1980). Take a good look and read the accompanying text, and two facts come to light: these painstakingly-collected studio photographs offer a peek at the family history of Tamils over the decades, after photography came to India; they expose the importance Tamil families attached to family portraiture.
For more information on this fascinating display, I walked into the beautiful colonial French Institut building. “The images on the wall are part of an ongoing project tracing the social history of Tamil studio photography and family portraiture in South India,” said Dr. Zoe Headley, project co-ordinator, walking me to her office. Pointing to the stacks of old family pictures, she wondered why descendants in the families wanted to throw or give them away. “These tell you about family history. Even casual viewers can learn a lot about clothes, ornaments and family hierarchy.” Their number shouldn't surprise you: by the 1880s, photo studios had spread to the British Presidency’s medium-sized towns as well. Families thronged them for group pictures during festivals and family functions. These were visual records of a family’s tradition, with generations setting out together for regular shoots. The IFP team is working to preserve this historical legacy as a complete digital archive. The wall exhibition is a sample of what has been collected so far.
Since Pondy-ART (created in December 2012 by Kasha Vande and supported by Yannick Cormier, Andreas Deffner and K Muthu) is the presenter of this exhibition, I called up Kasha. “I am very supportive of the Pondy people's effort to draw attention to the situation of heritage buildings as well as build community support for heritage conservation,” she said. “The interactive exhibition in public space was an opportunity for Pondy-ART to add to the ongoing Pondicherry Heritage Festival and build awareness of an issue challenging India today.” She felt Dr. Headley's current project would be the perfect time to work together to present the results of her research to date. Pondy-ART would be part of the “heritage initiative through photography”.
The Beach Road as the venue was a perfect choice. “It's accessible 24x7 for all. It is a high-traffic area with 100,000 visitors a month! Using a wall on the Beach Road offers the opportunity to reach out to people in a space they are already visiting. It needs no effort. It's taking art to public, inclusive places.”
The reaction has been incredibly positive. Whenever she passes by, she sees people stopping to look and she has heard comments that they have pictures like these at home. “We hope children and adults enjoy the fun questions accompanying the exhibition and that the search to find the answers leads to a more careful look at the portraits at home. The idea is to generate/increase interest in personal heritage.” Portraits such as these are treasures that record family history, evolution of social interaction and costume over time, she insisted.
Did they have problems collecting them? Dr. Headley and the IFP team's efforts made that part easy, she said. What was difficult was selecting from among their growing archive of thousands of interesting, beautiful and informative images.
Informative and interactive, they indeed are: You study the portraits and, at the final panel, answer questions like: How many umbrellas and who are holding them – men or women? Women have draped their sari in the same way, except one – who is it? Wrist watches were symbols of a family's wealth, how many women are wearing them? Where do you find family pets in the portraits? Books represent knowledge/culture — how many are holding books? Everyone in these photographs is alive, except one — who is it? One woman appears twice in these pictures — who is she? So that's what the animated conversation was about!
The exhibition is on till March 25, on Goubert Avenue (beach road), Puducherry.
