Ketaki Sheth
Born in 1957, Bombay, India, Ketaki Sheth has resisted digital photography and worked in black and white for 25 years, with chemistry and silver gelatin prints. She won the Sanskriti Award for Indian Photography in 1992 and the Higashikawa Award 2006 in Japan for best foreign photographer. In 2008, she was honored with a solo show (Bombay Mix) at Fête du Livre in Aix-en-Provence. Her work has been exhibited in India, UK, Us, Japan, France and Spain.
On this interview, Ketaki Sheth and Sharmila Wood (FORM curator) told us about Ketaki’s career, her experience on photographing black and white, her recent change to colour, the series Pilbara Stories, which will be displayed on Goa Photo 2015 and what they are expecting from Goa’s audience.
[GOA PHOTO] How did you start in photography? How was your first contact with a camera?
[KETAKI] I started photography as a student in the late 80s and then it picked up seriously under the tutelage of Raghubir Singh.
[GOA PHOTO] Can you tell us a little bit of your career in photography?
[KETAKI] I have three main bodies of work: Bombay Mix, street pictures from 1989–2004, Twinspotting from 1994–1999 and Sidis: from 2004–2010. All three have been published as books and have been exhibited locally and overseas. I have now moved to colour and digital and am working on a project titled Five Pin Codes.
[GOA PHOTO] What kind of photography you do? Can you define it?
[KETAKI] I like all. I haven’t defined subject categories ; but basically street work and portraiture.
[GOA PHOTO] In your bio, it’s said that you “resisted digital photography and continues to work in black and white, with chemistry and silver gelatin prints”. Why do you like so much analogical photography? Why is it special for you?
[KETAKI] I worked in black and white for 25 years. I loved it. Pilbara was important because its where I really wished I had gone digital and colour. I am now shooting in colour and I am enjoying it tremendously. Perhaps I will become nostalgic for black and white after a while, who knows. In black and white I used a Leica m6 with a single lens and a Mamiya 6 with a single lens for portraiture. I have now traded the m6 for its digital sister the M9 and I am loving it. Keeping it simple and working hard. I am not a great one for too much technology.
[GOA PHOTO] About the work “Pilbara stories” how did you get this idea, and how was the photographic process?
[SHARMILA] FORM has been doing a project called The Pilbara Project to expand the imagination about what the Pilbara is over many years, this is driven by a belief that the best places are those that celebrate diversity, nurture creativity, aspire to excellence and are shaped with people and place in mind. I wanted to show the many types of people who make Australia their home, and are integral to building and developing the region. After spending time living in the Pilbara I realized that the myth surrounding the outback left a large part of the population invisible — the platform of photography presented a way to engage with the community in a meaningful way and let them share their story on their terms.
We wanted to show the enormous cultural diversity of people who lived there- the different aspirations they had- the different dreams & hopes- the different countries and stories that existed. We wanted to promote inclusiveness and community cohesion, along with a sense of belonging and ownership. It was important to ensure people were active agents, so the portraits Ketkai made were of people who chose to be part of this project. Four photographers from overseas- Ketaki, Martin Parr, Annet van der Voort and Bharat Sikka undertook brief trips to the Pilbara, and FORM who I work with had organized sitters. Whilst it was formal , there was also a lot of spontaneity in the process and relationships that emerge from one to one interactions.
[GOA PHOTO] For you what was the most important output from this series?
[SHARMILA] A new way of seeing and looking at the Pilbara- captured by photographers who all brought their own unique vision and angle to the place and its people.
[GOA PHOTO] So far where have you presented this work? How was the audience feedback? And what do you expect from the Goa’s audience?
[SHARMILA] The work was presented in Port Hedland- where many of the people featured are from, they loved seeing their community and themselves represented in an empowered way, in all its richness- over 52 nationalities living together. In Perth, Western Australia where we have also exhibited the series, we had an audience member cry because they felt so moved by the photographs. Some of the work was shown in Delhi.
I think the audience in Goa will see beautiful and intimate photographs from Ketaki that really strike a connection, there is a shared sense of humanity even with people who are far away geographically- in the faces we can recognize ourselves. The images will also expand commonly held perceptions about what is to be an Australian.
[GOA PHOTO] The theme of Goa Photo’s first edition is “ The Other”, so can you tell us how is “the other” present in the series you are going to present there?
[SHARMILA] The camera brings us closer together.
[GOA PHOTO] As an artist, beyond the role of promoting photographers works, what do you think is the importance of a festival, and what can it do for photography?
[KETAKI] It’s nice to meet fellow photographers and share experiences. More importantly it’s wonderful to get photography out.
[GOA PHOTO] Have you ever been in Goa? If not what you expect to see?
[KETAKI] Yes I have been, but not for a very long time. I have a home in a fishing village in north Mumbai that I go to all the time (and where I am photographing) so Goa doesn’t really cross my mind. But I am so happy that Goa Photo has taken off and I wish everyone a fabulous experience.
Originally published at goaphoto.tumblr.com.
