Indianisms

Indianisms refers to words or phrases characteristic of Indian English, often literal translations from the vernacular. Indianisms in a photography exhibition by Prashant Panjiar, a photojournalist and curator who has worked extensively in areas of documentary photography across the Indian scape. 

Going through his archives in 2010, Prashant Panjiar came across many images that contained a vernacular visual language that is very typical to India. At the same time, he was also photographing in a square format observing the ironies, idiosyncrasies and inventiveness that abound in everyday Indian life. Which resulted in his photo book, Indianisms, Imagery from which was showcased at MOG.

The exhibition was divided into three parts, the first part is called ‘Full Timepass’ which deals with the idea of ‘Male Gaze’ that is very prevalent in India. It discusses how men look at women and objectify the environment around them. The second part is called, ‘Don’t Mind Us, We Are Like This Only!’ which discusses the idea of photography as a performance. From people performing when a camera is pointed at them, to politicians constantly in an act of performance for the cameras, all fall into this category. The third part is called, ‘Backside Entry Only’, this contains very mysterious and intriguing elements of architecture and landscape in India. It is an observation of the aesthetics of the subaltern life in India and how it gets redefined in certain settings. 

Prashant Panjiar invites viewers to look for meanings in the images if they want or just consider it as ‘Full Timepass’!