“The task of an alternative photography is to incorporate it into social and political memory, instead of using it as a substitute which encourages the atrophy of any such memory…. For the photographer this means thinking of her or himself not so much as a reporter to the rest of the world, but, rather, as a recorder for those involved in the events photographed. The distinction is crucial” John Berger

The concept of politics is the subject of Valentine Willie Fine Art’s 2012 instalment of the gallery’s recurring exhibition CUT: New Photography from Southeast Asia. It aims to reminds us, as seminal English art critic John Berger comments, of the potential of photography as a mode of communication; to engage with and most importantly, remember the political histories and people that shape our world for the better or worse. Featuring the work of twelve new, emerging and established photographers and artists from across the region, including Athit Perawongmetha (Thailand), M.R. Adyatama Pranada (Indonesia), Carlo Gabuco, (Philippines) Danny Lim (Malaysia), Green Zeng (Singapore), Heman Chong (Singapore), Jim Allen Abel (Indonesia), John Javellana (Philippines), Liew Teck Leong (Malaysia), Nge Lay (Burma), Vincent Leong (Malaysia) & Zakaria Zainal (Singapore), the show shares some of the iconic events and reactions to contemporary Southeast Asian politics, as well as discussing the impact of photography as both media and aesthetic art form within the narrative making of people and place.

The changing faces of Governments, that combine different styles of rule such as authoritarianism, democracy, monarchy and military with desires for economic progress, have instigated numerous unforgettable events across the region. The past few years alone has seen great change and questioning of leaderships, from public protests such as Bersih 3.0 for clean and fair elections throughout the streets of Kuala Lumpur, as well as those by the Yellow and Red Shirts and election of ex prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s sister Yingluck in Thailand, through to Singapore’s 2011 watershed general elections that highlighted a growing popularity (although not victorious result) for opposition leadership, to the landmark impeachment of the Philippines’s Chief Justice Renato Corona and Indonesia’s continuing struggles to overcome the legacies of the Suharto regime and wide spread corruption. Such formidable leaders and political parties cast deep and long shadows over the citizens and countries under their custodianship. As such these moments of development and inertia, change and oppression, protest and optimism, make for some of the most memorable documentary images in photojournalism as well as creative responses in fine art photography. CUT2012 therefore, locates itself within the dramas and threads of these tangible recent histories, as well as presents alternative and abstracted personal iconographies by selecting works from both lines of photographic inquiry.

Although its acceptance into the realms of fine art is up for constant debate, it is nevertheless difficult to ignore the importance of photojournalism when considering the political subject. As such, four working, freelance photojournalists have been selected for this exhibition. Danny Lim, Athit Perawongmetha, John Javellana and Zakaria Zainal, each documents various events from election campaigns and rallies, through to political protests and public unrest across Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore respectively. Their jobs record the processes of politics, politicians, and the social conditions that have emerged from their legacies. However, although the photojournalist acts as non partisan eyewitness alerting society to its own problems, when at their most brilliant, these images capture the grace and ugliness of human nature and everything in between so profoundly that they have the potential to change the way we look at the world forever. Therefore, far from just straightforward mechanical reproduction, the humanity of each artist showcases the diverse tones of the ‘documentary art’ utilising training and creativity to tell the dramatic stories of real life. But, problematically the sincerity of their images is constantly compromised by documentary photography’s relationship to the media, and its constant need for speed, repetition and sensation, not to mention bias and political leanings. Hopefully, once separated from the daily visual media blitz of violence tourism and political scripting/saturation, viewers awaken from their compassion fatigue to focus their thoughts on the complexities of Imelda Marcos, or the Singaporeans masses gathering on the event of a momentous election, the violence of Bangkok burning or the political campaign at work during by-elections in Northern Malaysia. This is the magic of the photographic story.  However, dangerously, the gallery environment has the power to reduce these images to pure aesthetics alone, lost to staging, lighting and formal composition. Such is the double-edged sword of the photographic image and challenge of photography to transcend the allure of the dramatic visual and retain a responsibility to subject.

So, if photojournalism is the art of the real, acting as a record of history, however theatricalised and scripted, then fine art photography is its deconstruction and critique. This is because, fine art photographers and artists who use photography in their practice, function as stakeholders in their country, critiquing politics and politicians, through acts of remembrance, protest or playful dissonance. Each of the remaining eight artists M.R. Adyatama Pranada, Carlo Gabuco, Green Zeng, Heman Chong, Jim Allen Abel, Liew Teck Leong, and Nge Lay utilise various direct and abstracted visual devices, languages and ideologies to personally respond to their own political contexts. It is almost pure bias, emphasising theatricality and artificiality to amplify voices of citizens otherwise unheard. It is provocative and angry, filled with sorrow and frustration, rebellion and insult as well as curious elements that confuse and delight. By responding to politics in these ways, by inserting personal emotion as well as aesthetic concerns, they destabilise the image, weaving between form and surface, ideology and sentiment.  This allows various aesthetic and political conversations to take place, of language, body negotiations, structures of power and its icons, political detention, personal histories, religion and landscape. Although less straightforward, such a range, invites audiences to understand the wider effects of past and current histories and how they affect people and creativity itself. But does fine art photography, that abstracts and distorts the political subject, have the ability to exact change, as much as the more ‘real’ documentary photograph? Do aesthetics and the context of the gallery overwhelm content, to create a disconnection from image and subject? Is a social responsibility something artists can or should bear?

When documenting and commenting upon the relationship between people and State, it is clear, that documentary photography and fine art play a crucial and somewhat problematic role in the making and breaking of histories. Processes of observation, staging, selection, censorship and the various responsibilities of photographer, editor and curator create specific conversations about countries and in this context, the Southeast Asian region. CUT2012 highlights certain events and political icons, and excludes others. This is more a result of research limitations and the topics practitioners are currently interested in, then an attempt to impose a problematic linear narrative on individual countries or the region itself. It is a sombre exhibition, punctuated with formalism, theatre, and some humour. Striving for diversity, criticality and aesthetic strength the show shares the role of various types of photography within the unfolding of people, places and events. It emphasises the dramatic nature of photography as theatre, mythmaker and breaker, instrument of propaganda as well as critical voice of and by society at large. The ability to visually arrest and wound, to become an agent for change is there, that is the romantic claim for the medium, but the exhibition, hopefully highlights some of the challenges to photography as a cultural medium as well. Within today’s fast paced society, where attention spans grow ever shorter, and political apathy increases, photographers face even greater challenges in order to successfully insert itself, as Berger comments, ‘into social and political memory’ to be the honest voice of societies striving to articulate themselves. Hopefully the exhibition, presents work that successfully achieves this.

By Eva McGovern
Exhibition Curator and Head of Regional Programmes
VWFA

For more information on each individual artist please see their respective artist pages.