India Tecton: German photographer gives new perspective to Indian monuments
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New Delhi: German photographer Nicolaus Schmidt's new book 'India Tecton' has nearly 200 images of India's monuments that have received unique perspectives via his camera.
"Yes, I have been told that my pictures, particularly that of Jantar Mantar in Varanasi, give a different perspective to well-known monuments in India. I have been taking pictures of Indian architecture since the beginning. The pictures of Karla's caves, incidentally, gave me the idea of a book. I came to India (to Pune) first in 2011 to visit a friend that I volunteered with way back in the 1980s," he told PTI.
The Berlin-based artist has visited India five times.
"My first book project in India was on its women, right after the horrible rape incident of a young girl in Delhi in 2012. The project was a collaboration with an Indian journalist, Priyanka Dubey," he said.
"I like some very old ones and some new ones. There are some really brilliant monuments here. But the built heritage in India in general is not very well maintained. I visited a palace in Patiala, it was almost in ruins. I felt very sorry to see that. I have also seen modern buildings, maybe only 10 years old, also beginning to fall apart," he added.
Speaking about his understanding of India, he added: "They are different yet there exist kinships. There is colonial domination. There are social contrasts. It has its own language of modernism, so different from the rest of the world, propagated by the likes of Charles Correa. It is all so fascinating. I realised that the difference is so vast between the regions that it is a story by itself."
He sees photos as more than documentation and more as a work of art. He likes to document the characteristics of his subjects.
His first book was about break dancers in New York and dancers were propped against historical places and buildings. "My focus was on the dancers. The scenery and architecture served as a podium to celebrate dance." His latest project Nature Viva is all about the extreme closeup of tree barks.
Schmidt's exhibition titled "India Tecton" is going to be at Goethe Institut in Bengaluru from May 14 to 27. He will also be conducting an exclusive five-day workshop at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP).