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| Annu Palakunnathu
Matthew | Interview |
An Indian from India
As an immigrant, I am often questioned about where
I am "really from." When I say that I
am Indian, I often have to clarify that I am an
Indian from India. Not an American-Indian, but rather
an Indian-American, South-Asian Indian or even an
Indian-Indian. It seems strange that all this confusion
started because Christopher Columbus thought he
had found India and called the native people of
America collectively as Indians.
In this portfolio, I look at the other "Indian".
I find similarities how Nineteenth century photographers
of Native Americans looked at what they called the
primitive natives, similar to the colonial gaze
of the Nineteenth century British photographers
working in India. In every culture there is the
"other".
In this portfolio I play on my own "otherness",
using photographs of Native Americans from the Nineteenth
Century which perpetuate and reinforce stereotypes.
The images highlight assimilation, use labels and
make many assumptions. I pair these with self-portraits
in clothes, poses and environments that mimic these
"older" images. The clothes are also "made
up", similar to Edward Curtis' intervention
in his posing and dressing up of some of his subjects
in his photographs. I challenge the viewers assumptions
of then and now, us and them, exotic and local.
Memories of India
Silken saris billow in the wind.
Shapes and colors turn into patterns that come and
go.
There is no origin, only destiny in the winds.
I look through my camera, it makes my spirit wander.
The sound of tambourines awakens memories,
visions of my mother, of childhood.
Visions of India. Homeland. But where is home?
Being born in England, raised in India and now living
in America, my mixed or "masala" background
continues to shape my life. My photographs are interpretations
rather than a documentation of my life as an Asian-Indian
woman living in a Diaspora. They serve as invitations
into my personal reality shaped by influences that
are cultural, personal, and photographic.
Because of my early upbringing in England, I approach
India as something of an outsider. Albeit, an outsider
with reminiscing for the sights, sounds, and smells
that are childhood impressions of my cultural homeland.
As a recent immigrant living in Diaspora, my visits
home are important. I use them to reconnect with
what I have left behind. For me to look forward
I need to be comfortable looking backwards. The
images are a time warp, taking me back so the memories
can be experienced over and over again. I enhance
these memories by the use of a simple plastic-lensed
Holga camera that makes images with a dreamy quality.
For me, these photographs are reminiscent of the
melody of a Raga in Indian music. Where the notes
are delicate and complex at the same time, blending
to form a poignant, haunting melody that will transport
me, and the viewer, into memories of my homeland
India.
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