Annu created a series of self portraits she titled An Indian from India. She uses a sepia style and portrays herself and american indians as "exotic creatures" as according to 19th century views.
http://thecontrarian.in/blog/2007/annu_palakunnathu_matthew.php
She manages to question her self-identity throughout this series. By showing the similarities between two types of indians she also make a political statement.
7 comments:
Annu Palakunnathu Mathew focuses on photographic study to present her ideas. However, i do not understand what these pictures are supposed to present. An Indian From India portraits are powerful, they show the cultural side of India but I thought it was comparing two different sides kind of images. For an example, an Indian along with Americans, because she sounded like she misses India and was remembering all the memories of India in India. Also, there was a picture where an Indian woman was holding an indian child, however the other side image, is her as an indian woman, with an american child. Later on, it was all quite the same...So, it's quite confusing.
The sepia-toned media is far more intersting than black and white pictures because it's the culture, their traditional clothing and belongings that is old but at the same time still the same and being used, so it's another way of saying it's not gone but kind of vague.
The portfolio of Annu Palakunnathu Matthew is very unique. With the pairs of pictures she indicates that there is a difference between the two peoples that are both called Indians. With her work she tries to comment on the fact that there is one name for both peoples. Looking at the album it seems that she is exaggerating the traditional Red Indian culture and is comparing herself to it by dressing the same or having the same expression. It seems that she tries to find out whether she belongs there or not. I think that with this she is trying to comment on the way people see people from a different background. Everyone that is not white is something special, something exotic, but they are all the same. She tries to show that many people might not see a difference between the Red Indians and the Brown Indians. So by showing how she does not fit in with them she tries to tell people that there is a difference. The sepia tones might suggest that it is an old thinking to put the two together, and that this perception does not really fit in with today’s world.
For my part, I think that the photos are very nice, but kind of repetitive. All the pairs of photos are very similar to look at. Personally I prefer the other portfolio or hers, called Memories of India, which is a series of photos about everyday life in India. These photos are in black and white to show that it is something past, which will not come again. With this she might way that she is not living there anymore, that it belongs to her past. But on the other hand, she misses the country its people and ways. I think that this is the message she wants to tell us with the portfolio. She is torn between the world of her past, of her family and the very different world she lives in today.
Some good observations girls- Comment on how you would respond to this technique and what subject matter you would chose to get a similar point across?
Are the images all very similar because the artist has a limited imagination or because she wishes to emphasis her point?
Remember to be analytical not just descriptive-say what you see and then justify your comment or expand on your observations stating why and how...
I would respond to this technique by using the same color tone, and also using photography. The subject could be a person, or rather a comparison between two people. However, in the pictures there should be a common theme, and since they are in sepia, I would also use an older subject matter. An idea would be to have the two people somehow holding a similar thing, but one is an old model and the other one is modern and thus building a contrast between the old culture and the modern lifestyle. This theme especially applies in today’s world where the individual cultures are being replaced by globalization.
The images are very similar because of the point the artist wanted to emphasis. She wanted to comment on the prejudice of today’s society and the fact that everyone who does not belong to the group is something exotic, without caring to distinguish between the different people or nationalities in this case. In order to prove her point, the artist used many different situations in which this can apply.
Related to what Fatma says in the original post, I think Annu Mathew really does question her identity in this portfolio. I believe the question she is trying to ask is: 'I am Indian, but am I really like these Indians?' These Indians being the original native Indian community. Although at first I thought that it was very uncreative that she just copied almost exactly the original pictures, I then realized that she was trying to compare herself to the typical stereotype of what different Indians were like. I saw this specifically in the picture with her and a stepchild in. I felt as if she was saying: "Am I still Indian if the child I consider mine was not even conceived by me?" I really feel that this is also the common theme in all the other pictures, and she is comparing the new modernized Indian to the traditional native Indian to actually check if they still qualify as an Indian. If I were to recreate this, I would probably also focus on photography as it is very effective in a comparison project like this because it gives a true reality of what the original and new are like. If it were a painting, the artist could very freely twitch and change whatever they don't like, and so that is a disadvantage. In photography, the reality is shown, and that is the point.
Annu Palakunnathu focuses on how commercial films that were in her homeland of india reflects on the stereotyped gender roles in the Indian culture.
She explores issues such as the position of women in Indian society, skin color, etc..
I think that here she tries to show that people might not see a difference between the Brown Indians and Red Indians. So here by showing that she doesn't fit in with them. Therefore she tries to tell people that there is a difference.
I like how it is done in sepia. Also for the techniques she used the same color tone.
ON BEHALF OF ABDULAZIZ
I don’t really get why Fatma was fascinated with this artist. I didn’t really get why she’d have a photo of an old women on the left and a young one on the right. The only thing that I observed is that each photo that contains an old Indian would look like a native Indian and the young Indian would look like an Indian. So I think this means something but I don’t know why.
I liked the way how the artist took her photos with Sepia style since it gives the impression how the photo looks more traditional and old.
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