Galina Karasoy - weekly post #4

Amrita Chandradas

Amrita Chandradas is documentary photographer, she is born and raised in Singapore. For Amrita, the project 6.9 became very personal, evoking strong anger and sad feelings. She tried to picture her own country and changes, that it experiences every year. Government of Singapore aims to increase population to 6.9 millions that’s why xenophobia is on the rise and the future is just getting harder.In her works she uses colors, lights and shadows to emphasize on the subject matter on every image. Each one is unique and has its own character.

First picture is taken from the pool of the skyscraper that opens fascinating view on a downtown. Person is front is in focus and the background is blurred. Apparently, image was taken with wide aperture and camera is almost faced to the Sun. That made me think the exposure needs more light to see details instead of only silhouette.

Second picture is instantly catches attention and questions what exactly is shown. Artist shot at night time with low shutter speed. Different lives and how there are geometrically organized in small boxes of tiny apartments is the main concern of subject matter.

Third image is more suburban, exposing traditional setting of villager’s house. It considers contradiction between modern development and cultural preservation. She uses color to explore calmness of simplicity. There are two elderly silhouettes behind the curtains to underline inevitably drifting away local culture.

I truly enjoyed Amrita’s works because each one of them is embracing a viewer. Honestly, till today I had no idea about what is really going in Singapore and how it reflects on local inhabitants. It made me to do some research and educate myself about history, people and traditions of this island country. Those works are not dry documentary facts, they expose the reality through the art and call for the help in the same time. I guess this what art is supposed to do – to send the message and to evoke the interest.