the Other Way of Seeing: 'The Other Way of Seeing': Salim PAUL

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Salim PAUL

dates:

born 13/09/1952 -

bio:

Self trained, works mainly in available light. Sphere of work: documentation of people's lives, (rural & urban) on stage performance, press, sports, wildlife, etc.

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Salim PAUL was a member of the Chitrabani Society
interview in 'Das Endlose Rad'
“The other project originated from SALIM PAUL himself, who went out in his holidays and took photographs there in the tribal areas. But that gave him only little time and very little resources to take photos, because salary was not so high and all the expenses of travelling. So on that, in constant dialogue with him, we created a project which was generously founded for him to visit and go even to far-away places to visit the tribal areas and take as many photographs as possible. Salim became very concerned that many things that he was seeing were disappearing, the ways of life, customs and so on, So number 1 it would have a value to document that. But number 2 was to try to make a collection of photographs which we hoped - perhaps naively - that perhaps the tribal people themselves would benefit from, either by means of exhibitions in their areas, which never took place, or that the activists among themselves were trying to convey their problems which the so called mainstream of Indians are totally unaware of. These problems are not at all exotic when you live there, oppression, difficulty of adjustment to modern life and so on. So we thought that sensitive photographs would help those people to document their suffering. This has not worked either in practice. We knew that even if these objectives are not fulfilled, the collection would have its value, but in line with the mentality of the so called concerned photographers, we were hoping that our photographs would be an instrument of social work, but in the hands of tribal people themselves or those who were trying to help them.”
Tim Besserer interview with Gaston Roberge of the CHITRABANI Society, Calcutta 30/01/1986