SIDEWALK POETRY

DEDIPYA BASAK

//Dedipya is based in Kolkata, India. He started photography in his childhood, having been gifted a film camera by his father, who was also a photographer. He is currently studying visual journalism at the International Center of Photography. We present his series from the sidewalks of Kolkata.

“Photography was always with me,” Dedipya says. “And it was my most desirable career option from the very first day of my photography life. But in India art and poverty have a high positive correlation and my parents never wanted me to opt for my career as a photographer. So, photography was just a passion for me for a long time. But I was not happy. I was not happy with my five years’ economist career as I always wanted to spread my photographic art among the people in order to shower happiness in this world full of hatred and vengeance. And, finally I decided to start my career as a photographer and I joined International Center of Photography (ICP) as one of their documentary photography student. Presently I am studying Visual Journalism at ICP.”

“CALCUTTA IS BEAUTIFUL. wherever you place a camera, YOU GET A VISION.”

Pradeep Sarkar

What draws you to the arts?

“Well, it’s a very interesting question and to answer this I must say that art was an integral part of my family life. It has always been a main source of my existence, full of its resonance. My grandfather was a poet. My mother was a vocal artist and my father was a photographer. So, from the first days of my childhood I was always surrounded by different art practices. In order to be inside art I didn’t have to go anywhere. In my home my grandfather had a library of almost three to four thousand books. My father had a music and movie collection from all over the world. We used to hold our small family functions every fortnight. So, art was always there and it is still there as a part of my all pervasive consciousness. In short, influenced by its constant presence in my 34 years of life, I have come to this understanding that art exists, therefore I exist.”

What do you like most about this conceptual photo series?

“The sequence from the project I have submitted here, as I already mentioned, is the sidewalk of Kolkata city – where I have been born and brought up. In this regard I must mention the perspective of exploring the same old city with a new eye, and that is an experience of adventure. Apart from that I would like to mention the research perspective – the multidisciplinary aspect of the project. It includes the thoughtprovoking, storytelling art perspective along with the raw and socio-political policy issues – an idea of creating a space for both – art and documentation.”

Sidewalk – A Chronicle of an Artist’ is a part of Dedipya´s one and half year long documentary project ‘Sidewalk’. Here he was interested in capturing the everyday life on the pavements of his native Kolkata city. Stylistically, however, it goes beyond documentation of street life. It is a blend of documentation and art, as he envisioned it.

“I find this particular series as a more poetic one than my other sequences of images. I strongly believe that the viewers will find enough scope to identify thier true understanding with this particular sequence and as a result the sequence will assimilate in their artistic perception.”

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