Last month, India International Centre hosted an exhibition of photographs by Singapore-based academic-photographer Oh Soon-Hwa, titled ‘Crossing Road'. Primarily centred on people in Delhi and Varanasi, the exhibition was a result of several short trips to India between 2007 and 2010 as part of her residency programme supported by Arts Council Korea. Walking from four in the morning till dusk, Oh Soon-Hwa has made people her focus in the images, but in a way that focuses on their relationship with their surroundings. Men reposing on the banks of the Ganga, the morning sun brightening a girl's red sweater, the painted cycle rickshaw standing beside the sleeping rickshaw puller; children using the protective barrier around a young tree to mount it; old men sharing laughs over a session of head-shaving; people on the streets, people at home … the photographs touch and appeal without any overt claim.
“Ever since I saw photos of India by great photographers like Steven McCurry, Mary Ellen Mark and Henri Cartier-Bresson, it has been my dream to visit India. That was the most enriching time for me in my artistic career,” says Oh-Soon Hwa over e-mail.
“I wanted to avoid stereotype subjects already explored by many photographers who have created convincing bodies of works. I walked along the streets day and night to observe what goes on in certain locations and networking points between Hindus and Muslims, and also tourists,” says Oh Soon-Hwa, who teaches digital photography at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and hails from South Korea.
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The theme, in a way, dropped in her lap. “The moment I landed in Varanasi airport I saw a huge group of Muslims. I was quite surprised. Foreigners know Varanasi as a Hindu sacred place. Someone highly regarded in the Muslim community was visiting Varanasi that day. A huge crowd had formed to greet the leader. I happened to be there on the same flight,” recalls Oh Soon-Hwa. This observation, she says, inspired her to explore the harmonious existence between the Muslims and Hindus in Varanasi.
Delhi and Varanasi, though colourful and vibrant, do not have the sanitised order that Singapore is famous, even notorious, for. Was it difficult in the beginning?
“The experience of photographing in India is somewhat different from anywhere else in the world — Indians like being photographed. I did not have to ask,” she explains.
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What is photography to Oh Soon-Hwa, a creative art or a means to document the socio-cultural fabric of society?
“I am always interested in photographing people. My photographs are not only recording the moments but also playing with the psychological space between photographer and participants of my photographs,” she says. “The psychological space represents evidence that we have mutual understanding and trust. My camera gives me a reason to be any place I want to be.”
What does the educator in her aim for? “I would like my students to learn to enjoy their photographic moments as I do. Especially, when the photographs reveal the moments the way I remember, I feel I have the best job in the world.”