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VASA Front Page Project #46
The VASA Front Page Project
presents the work of a photographer, video and sound artist.
Raj Kamal
India
The Sound of Silence
© Raj Kamal
Curator: Sandeep Biswas
These self-portraits depicts about the reality of my life, which I dare not speak about openly in our society. These works are about my inner emotions and certain life incidents from my past.
I feel highly desperate to do this kind of work because it helps me understand myself better and giving me that supreme strength to speak out my heart. My works is highly poignant, but it expresses about basic human nature and struggles, which I have faced over the years.
These self-portraits are my personalized form of expression because when I work I transform into my subject and the material of my art. These feelings give me a deeper understanding about myself during this process and time. Mainly I work on a series. These are like a snapshot that explores various aspects of my emotions. Each one is approached and created with utter abandonment resulting in a work that communicates and exposes raw emotion to the viewer. This exploration helps me engage more deeply with my personal space and time.
Having acknowledged my own issues and seeing the same reflected in the others has become a means for creating my inner narratives. I create these highly dramatic scenes, using props and characters, with a strong focus on color and tones, to emphasize symbolism and depict various states of the ideal self. I wish to create awareness for people around the world through my self-portraits.
About the Photographer
Raj Kamal (b. 1995, Punjab), He is a self-taught artist. He chose self-portrait photography as a medium to explore himself.
He has been making these self-portrait from the past 9 years. He covers many topics like human nature, LGBT issues, the human body, and everyday life connected to self etc. These are topics, which we would can never dare to speak about in this highly complex society.
His father is also a photographer, therefore one can say that photography is in his blood. He is a B.A. graduate, and has never received any formal art or photography education. He is inspired by legendary artist like Francesca Woodman, Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol.
Recently, he received an artist scholarship from Punjab Lalit Kala Academy (Chandigarh).
Curator note:
“Self, Identity, sexuality, acceptance, solace, solitude, strength, truth, desperation, emotion“
Many reasons why Raj Kamal finds his ultimate comfort in the medium of photography and visual expression. Something he feels “he dare not speak“ and yet he is eager to explore alternate methods of expression to address this personal struggle during his growing up years, trying to break out of the cocoon woven through his history of various unwanted experiences. Raj calls this a desperate measure to create these images and to gain the strength to understand himself and his inner emotions.
Raj Kamal’s visual story absorbs us into his private world, transforming us into an involuntary voyeur. He deals with his life trying to explore the self in the form of his own portraits.
These images and words are an attempt to question the notion of normalcy in a society entangled in its own complexity.
Raj uses digital photographic imagery singularly and in multiples to enhance his poignant expression and reveal his personal struggle through an autobiographical approach.
Sandeep Biswas