An other viewpoint

British photographer Justin Coombes explores the concept of ‘alterity’ in his workshop titled ‘Talking Photography: Speaking For Others’

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but for British photographer Dr Justin Coombes making a poetic connection between the visual and written language is what makes for a perfect frame. A PhD in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, London, Justin’s artistic strength lies in how he plays on the complicated relationship between word and image. To give an insight into his artistic practice, he will be conducting a two-day workshop titled ‘Talking Photography: Speaking for Others’ — as a part of the year-long photography festival Habitat Photosphere — where both sessions will be interconnected through interactive exercises and slide shows.

This workshop explores the concept of ‘alterity’ in photography. Justin shares, “On the first day, I will be giving lecture on the history of ‘alterity photography’, i.e photography that is used to show a viewpoint that is not the photographer’s own. The lecture will cover works from the 1840s to the present day and is intended to provoke participants into thinking as imaginatively as possible. We will also be sharing stories and concentrating on photography’s capacity to do that.”

He continues, “This will be followed by group work in which we will brainstorm, discuss and plan new projects. It’s important that participants find time to take photographs between the two sessions, as the second session will concentrate on critiquing and editing our pictures. There won’t be enough time during the sessions to take pictures.”

Justin shares that he first read about alterity in the work of French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. “I am interested in exploring the idea through photography for a number of reasons. We tend to assume that a photograph represents the ‘viewpoint’ of the photographer, but why should that necessarily be so In literary fiction and in film, there are strong traditions of the ‘auteur’ assuming the voice of another character. This is often described as ‘first person narration’ in written fiction and ‘point of view’ or ‘subject camera’ in moving film. My recent research has convinced me that there is a parallel tradition within still photography of such an approach, where an ‘other’ is voiced, but this is far more unusual than in the fields of literature and moving image. I see myself as working in this niche tradition, and also in a hybrid space between literature and photography, as I tend to combine my photographs with my written texts. My workshops invite others to experiment in these fields too.”

Justin’s photographs, videos and performances investigate history, memory and place. Many of his photographic works use slide projections as a metaphor for how memory affects lived experience. Explaining how he has been exploring the subject of alterity through his own art, he says, “Recent photo-text works have given voices to a lovelorn, brain injured, acid-scarred crow; the Taoist and Buddhist deity Kannon; a pregnant, nesting kingfisher, and an officious Tokyo tour guide.”

Narrating a story is very important, shares Justin and adds, “Most of my photographs are supported by texts because I feel word speaks to image and vice versa: the work insistently, subtly and poetically questions our relationship to photography, memory, verbal description and the physical world.”

Currently, he is also working on a project titled ‘Reversed Curses’ — a photographic series on the life of a fictional Indian man who is about to retire from his job as a ticket inspector in the railways.

Through his eyes I try to capture the many stories he witnesses, his failures and happiness in the frame,” avers Justin. He is planning to complete the project by October and come out with his book by mid April 2017.