Mad Decadence

It was a rare opportunity to listen to the tales told by Olivia Arthur and Philipp Ebeling through photographs at Harrington Arts Street, Kolkata on 7th November 2015. The event was organised by British Council, Kolkata. Both the photographers were presenting their books/projects self published by their venture Fish Bar. Photojournalism is at its best phase now thanks to the evolving digital technology and it is a very competitive field. It was indeed heartening to see thematic representation of places, people and the era by these two splendid artists.
Olivia Arthur’s latest work – “Stranger” is about Dubai and narrates a tale of a fictitious survivor of a 1961 shipwreck in which many lost their lives. This survivor from the troubled past returns to connect to the modern Dubai full of dichotomies – unprecedented growth and development while being trapped in conservative society where women have to wear a veil and live their free lives alienated behind the curtains. It is a very interesting work on women which also connects to her previous work on Saudi Arabia, Jeddah and India – a commentary on how culture, past defines a city and its people.
Philipp Ebeling’s book “Land Without Past” is a personal tale of growing up in a German neighbourhood and connecting it to the troubled history of Germany – pre and post Nazi era and the very recent reunification of Germany.  It was rare experience to listen to the anecdotal context in first person.
It was very inspiring to see these linkages made through photographs to the significant past of two culturally very different cities. The book “Stranger” also experiments with the design, layout and even paper. The transparent paper adds to the commentary of a ship wreck survivor who was traveling to Dubai with dreams on a ship but destiny turned out to be different.The under water photographs of the remains of the shipwreck printed on a transparent sheets makes the whole experience surreal.