Cochin Babu lounges on a chair in Chavittu Nadakam gear staring right into the camera, oozing attitude. The black and white, 36x24 inch photograph, printed on canvas, accompanies another of Babu in his shop carrying tools of his trade — a weighing balance — as a provision store owner. Babu runs a provision store and is a junior artiste in films when he is not busy with Chavittu Nadakam, the Latin Christian art form.
The portrait, clicked by photographer Shaji N Jaleel, is his ode to the familiar faces he sees around Fort Kochi and Mattancherry — his home. These are a part of his first solo show, ‘Unconfined’, at Eka Art Gallery, featuring 18 photographs on canvas and paper.
“With Cochin Babu’s photographs I wanted to show how one takes two aspects of life together, hand in hand — art and everyday life,” says Shaji. His subjects are a motley crew. Gemini Nazar, a constant, compulsive traveller. Thamby chettan who at 74 still fells coconuts, and has been for as long as Shaji can remember, “And he is very fit despite his years.” Hameed ikka who has, for the last 50 years, been living in Jew Town where he used to ferry passengers on his cycle rickshaw before auto rickshaws became common. He now does odd jobs, such as running errands for shop owners and moving merchandise. The women in his photographs are fisher folk going about their daily chores.
The photographs are gritty and rich with details that only a black and white image can highlight. Interestingly the portraits seem to be largely of older people, “It wasn’t a conscious decision. I was more interested in how they looked, their attitude and how they carry themselves,” says Shaji, a still photographer for films. He has assisted Shyju Khalid as cinematographer in Traffic . He has made short films such as The Rim (2011), Expire (2011), No Spaces (2012), which was screened at IDSFFK, and Portrait (2017).
Of why he has shot in black and white, he says, he likes the medium because it gives him the results he likes in a photograph.
“The other reason is that I started my career shooting black and white photos, and somehow I am attached to that despite all the digital technology available,” he adds. These pictures have been shot with a digital camera, Canon N50. However, for his next show Shaji plans to go with old-fashioned, film roll and develop it. “I have been a photographer for more than 20 years, and I started my career with black and white photographs in a dark room. I want to do that, it is not difficult to do. Anyone can do it - printing paper, processing chemicals are all available,” he says.
