Storytelling through Photography: In Conversation with Aishwarya Arumbakkam
As a part of a series of conversations with artists from the recently concluded exhibition Growing Like A Tree held at Ishara Art Foundation in Dubai, Anisha Baid spoke to photographer and filmmaker Aishwarya Arumbakkam. The exhibition featured an ongoing series of photographs by Arumbakkam titled “ka Dingiei” which explores human–environment conflicts as a result of development and industrialisation. The project also examines the loss of indigenous culture, knowledge and identities alongside the material losses of land and livelihood.
Arumbakkam received the Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Grant for Photography in 2019 towards “ka Dingiei,” which currently takes the form of a series of three photobooks. Inspired from the local mythological characters of the Khasi community, these photographs were made in the village of Lama Punji, close to the border between India and Bangladesh. The story follows a young child, Arlangki, on a quest to find the mythical ka Dingiei—an ancient creature rumoured to have the power to restore balance in nature. Since 1998, the area surrounding Lama Punji has witnessed physical, socio-economic, mythical and cultural destruction due to large-scale stone and sand mining. In her artist’s statement about this locally-inspired work of universal reality, Arumbakkam says:
“While a traditional documentary approach can talk about the social and political narrative of the community, I feel the form of fiction and books allows me to slow down and meditate on the cultural narrative of the community...The idea of development and change is complex and layered. The physical Lama Punji might be destroyed in five years but what is the new form this village will take? Can this be another ‘origin’ story, a tale of caution, a book of memory, loss, and hope.”
In this conversation, the artist dwells on the beginnings of this project at the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and its evolution to the form displayed at the exhibition. She also speaks about working with mythological concepts and culturally embedded knowledge systems to create visual narratives.
(Featured Image: Installation view of "ka Dingiei" by Aishwarya Arumbakkam as part of Growing Like A Tree at Ishara Art Foundation. Photograph by Ismail Noor/Seeing Things. Dubai, 2021. Image courtesy of the artist and Ishara Art Foundation.)
Interview with Anisha Baid, 18 February 2021.
To watch the other conversations in this series, please click here and here.
