Waswo X. Waswo
Digital Archival Prints
Project 365 Tiruvannamalai Public Photo-art Archive
Hand colored by Rajesh Soni
Waswo X. Waswo was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the U.S.A. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Milwaukee Center for Photography, and Studio Marangoni, The Centre for Contemporary Photography in Florence, Italy. His books, India Poems: The Photographs, published by Gallerie Publishers in 2006, and Men of Rajasthan, published by Serindia Contemporary in 2011, have been available worldwide. The artist has lived and travelled in India for over sixteen years and he has made his home in Udaipur, Rajasthan, for the past nine. There he collaborates with a variety of local artists including the photo hand-colourist Rajesh Soni. He has also produced a series of autobiographical miniature paintings in collaboration with the artist R. Vijay. Waswo is represented in India by Gallerie Espace, New Delhi and Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, and in Thailand by Serindia Gallery, Bangkok, and also by Indigo Blue Art, Singapore, and Gallery Minsky, Paris.
Artist Statement
"A photograph is the image captured on film and a print is the physical copy. Making the print is very important to me, it constitutes 50% of what makes a good photograph. That is why making a good print matters. And hand-painted photography was how people used to colour black and white photographs. I wanted to combine these two lost arts and have black and white prints painted by hand.
These photographs for me are also about spirituality. They embody Udaipur's vibe. It is about history and spirituality of Hinduism, and even Islam. That is one of the reason I have incorporated religious elements like Krishna and Hanuman into the frame”
Rajesh Soni, was born on the 6th of August, 1981. He is an artist living in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who has become known primarily for his abilities to hand paint digital photographs. He is the son of artist Lalit Soni, and the grandson of Prabhu Lal Soni (Verma), who was once court photographer to the Maharana Bhopal Singh of Mewar. Prabhu Lal was not only a court photographer, but also a hand-colourist who painted the black and white photographs that he produced. His skills of hand-colouring photographs were passed down to Rajesh through the intermediary of his father Lalit.
Courtesy of waswoxwaswo.com, firstpost.com