Waswo X. Waswo

Infobox Artist
name = Waswo X. Waswo


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birthname = Richard John Waswo
birthdate = birth date|1953|11|13|df=y
location = Milwaukee, USA
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field = photography, writer
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Richard John Waswo (13 November 1953), professionally known as Waswo X. Waswo, is an artist and writer most commonly associated with his chemical process sepia-toned photographs of India. His first major book, "India Poems: The Photographs" [Waswo X. Waswo, "India Poems: The Photographs," The Gallerie Publishers edition of "India Poems: The Photographs is: ISBN 81-901999-2-7] , was in part a challenge to politically correct notions of the western artist's role in responding to Asia, and his work has been critiqued [David De Souza, " [http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1060554 Elegy in Sepia] ", DNA Salon, October 27, 2006.] in the light of cultural theories that stem from Edward Said and his book " Orientalism."

Waswo was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. He studied at the a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and later at Studio Marangoni, the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Florence, Italy. [Studio Marangoni's website is [http://www.studiomarangoni.it/en/school-of-photography.html here] .] After extensive worldwide travels he settled in India in 2001, where he organized an exhibition of his Indian landscapes and portraits with the help of Alliance Française, Kashi Art Gallery, and Cymroza Art Gallery. The exhibition, called "India Poems", traveled to Cochin, Bangalore, Bombay, Udaipur and Goa, and also traveled internationally to Colombo and Kandy in Sri Lanka. "India Poems" culminated in a showing at The Haggerty Museum of Art in the artist's hometown of Milwaukee. [ [http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/exhibitions/waswo.html Article] from the webpage of the Haggerty Museum of Art.]

Waswo's sepia work has been compared ["Invented Worlds: India through the Camera Lens of Waswo X. Waswo" by Dr. Curtis Carter, The International Yearbook of Aesthetics, Vol 11, 2007] to early 20th century photographers such as Edward Curtis, but his inclusion of self-portraiture sometimes draws analogies to postmodernists such as Cindy Sherman. Waswo's work has encouraged debate on the ethical questions of photography, especially the question of a westerner's role in photographing a foreign land. The Indian writer and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote makes a strong defense of Waswo's work in the foreword to "India Poems," but also included in the book is an essay by Bangalore-based artist Pushpamala N. titled "Photographing the Natives" which claims that Waswo follows in a long tradition of hegemonic and largely negative western depictions of the East.

Waswo's "India Poems" exhibitions and book were widely written about in India. [Sudeep Sen, "Atlas", "India Poems: The Photographs, Editor's Choice", Sudeep Sen, June 2007] An article by Curtis Carter eventually appeared in "The International Yearbook of Aesthetics" titled "Invented Worlds: India Through the Camera Lens of Waswo X. Waswo" [Curtis Carter, "Invented Worlds: India Through the Camera Lens of Waswo X. Waswo", The International Yearbook of Aesthetics 11 (2007), Editor Gao Jianping, Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing [http://wayneyang.wordpress.com/?s=curtis+carter] ]

Since "India Poems" Waswo has created a series of studio portraits at his home in Udaipur, Rajasthan, following the tradition of Indian studio portraitists such as those done by Lala Deen Dayal. Waswo has collaborated with Rajesh Soni, a local craftsman who hand-paints Waswo's digital prints. Waswo also has collaborated with the miniaturist painter Rakesh Vijay to create an autobiographical picture-story of his life in India and the accompanying emotions of both alienation and the sense of western privilege. This new work, entitled "A Studio in Rajasthan", has been written about by London-based art critic Edward Lucie-Smith. [Edward Lucie-Smith and Dr. Alka Pande (catalogue essays), A Studio in Rajasthan, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2008.]

References

External Links

*Amrita Gupta-Singh, [http://www.artconcerns.net/2006/html/interview_waswo.htm Interview with Waswo] .
*Judith Ann Moriarty, " [http://www.susceptibletoimages.com/061907/waswoJAM061907.html An American in India] ".
*Murali N. Krishnaswamy, " [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2007/01/07/stories/2007010700350700.htm Lyrical Images] ", "The Hindu," January 7, 2007. Review of the book.
*Bomay Art Gallery, " [http://www.bombayartgallery.com/artistdetails.asp?artistid=143 Bombay Art Gallery] "
*Cymroza Art Gallery, " [http://www.cymroza.com/artistArtworks.asp?ID=83 Cymroza Art Gallery] "