The Scape Exclusive:Up, close and personal with Annie Griffiths

by Abira Pathak
 

The city of Kolkata had a rare date with Annie Griffiths Belt. Photographer extraordinaire, she has been one of National Geographic’s foremost photojournalist and lecturers, joining the house in 1978. Her passion has taken her across thousands of nations and she has garnered a gamut of experience. She has worked in dozens of magazines and global projects, some of which are the rarest and choicest works in photojournalism across the globe. She was a visiting professor of photography at Ohio University in 1986-87. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Ripple Effect Images, a non-profit organization, which documents the effect of climate change on communities around the world, as well as the programs that help poor women cope with environmental change. Born and brought up in Minnesota, she commenced her professional career while she was still in school, working as a staff photographer for the Minnesota Daily. She was awarded from the National Press Photographers Association, The Associated Press, The National Organization for Women, and the White House News Photographers Association.

She has several publications to her name. A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel, a photo memoir, published in 2009 created ripples around the world. Her latest publication, Simply Beautiful Photographs, published in October, 2010, is a visual extravaganza that appeals to the aesthetic. It comprises of some rare, unused photographs from the archive of the National Geographic Magazine. She graced the ongoing 35th Kolkata International Book Fair partially to promote her publication and as a part of her ongoing tour of discovering India. Our Scape correspondent, Abira Pathak, was lucky enough to have a one-on-one tété-a-tété with this very unassuming and elegant lady:
Scape: You are one of the first women photographers in the stalwart channel, National Geographic. How was the journey?
 

Annie: I think being a woman, it has been a wonderful advantage…I really do. You know, I think it’s an advantage because women are less threatening and the kind of work that I do, you want to blend in. you don’t want to draw attention to yourself…and so people are less intimidated by a strange woman walking into their neighborhood in a strange way! I always thought and found it to be an advantage… (Smiles)

Scape: You have had an extraordinarily illustrious career with zillions of experiences almost everyday! Any certain incident or incidents that you would like to share with us…

Annie: I did another book a couple of years ago that’s called, ‘A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel’…and it’s like a photo memoir…of memories that I have in kind of my journey through all of that! And there are just so many. There are just days when I used to connect with the people… I had a very very touching day in Pakistan one time and I was in this very very remote village and the people were very poor and yet they showed me every kindness. They offered to let me sleep there, they fed me and they played music for me. It was like even though they had nothing but they gave everything to a stranger. Those days really…you know…they can’t be replaced. It was such a privilege! 

For the entire interview follow the link : http://www.thescape.in/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1806

The undying legacy of Paul Taylor

By Abira Pathak & Shreya Das

Paul Taylor is probably the last living stalwart of the American concept of modern dance. The octogenarian still refuses to accept his age as an impediment and continues to be as vibrant and prolific as ever. Paul Taylor established ‘Taylor 2’ in 1993 to ensure that his works would showcase to audiences all over the world, irrespective of economic or technical confines. Mr. Taylor retrospected on the origins of the Paul Taylor Dance Company (PTDC) of 1954 for the structure of his new company. The six new professionals were envisioned to be endowed with a particular panache for his style. His world renowned dance troupe, Paul Taylor Dance Company (PTDC) is scheduled to perform in the City of Joy after 13 long years. PTDC comprising Latra Wilson, Justin Kahan, John Eirich, Nic  Ceynowa, Christina Lynch Markham, Madelyn Ho, Manuel Sanchez and Ruth Andrien addreses the media during a press meet.

In the first decade of the new millennium, he had censored American imperialism, ridiculed feminism and looked death square in the face. And yet, while his work has largely been renegade, since the very start of his career Mr. Taylor has also made some of the most purely romantic, most astonishingly athletic, and downright funniest dances ever put on stage. If, as Balanchine said, there are no mothers-in-law in ballet, there certainly are dysfunctional families, ex-lovers, fallen preachers, rapists, angels and insects in Taylor dance. In the 1950s, when his work was so cutting-edge that it could send confused audience members flocking to the exits, Martha Graham dubbed Mr. Taylor the “naughty boy” of dance. In the ’60s he shocked the cognoscenti by setting his trailblazing movement to music composed 200 years earlier, and inflamed the establishment by lampooning America’s most treasured icons. In the ’70s he put incest center stage and revealed the beast lurking just below humans’ sophisticated veneer. In the ’80s he looked unflinchingly at marital rape and intimacy among men at war. In the ’90s he warned against religious zealotry and blind conformity to authority. Alana Allende, one of the performers of PTDC 2 on current visit said at a press meet, “I compose a whole story when I’m performing. But, I see a dysfunctional family in the whole group as well.” Corroborating her view, Christina Lynch Markham said, “we actually donot look at each other while performing. It is like an emotional rollercoaster. We start on a very happy note, hopping and kipping like when we were young, but later there is a lot of yearning, a desire to be loved and touched.”

Speaking about their art form, they said, “Everybody here is trained in ballet. Even though it is very dynamic, it needs a lot of body technique. So when dancing, I know how to do the body math. Though it’s a scary feeling… but you have this ‘muscle memory of your body. The body reacts to particular music which is a natural response to the rhythm and the choreography. In ‘Taylor dance’, he very much engages the back to impart a viscous quality to the movement, focusing on the posture, as well. Hence, there is walking, running, skipping, tumbling, hopping….tripping can be a dance movement too. He was never trained in music but he has this uncanny sense of musicality.  In every dance, he tries to create something new, constantly striving to improve. Building trust in a partner comes overtime. We are great friends, on and off stage. We have a great emotional camaraderie. That is what about group ballet. This makes the dancing special.” Allena stressed that “the music has a great role. It is sad, touching and soulful. Another good thing about our choreography is that we are never told how to feel or do… You have the freedom to do your thing. It’s a true inspiration of gestures. There should be complete commitment to the movement…having the correct proportion of exertion and exhaustion.” Ruth reiterated, “Its motion. Not emotion. If you have the correct gesture, the emotion comes gushing in.”

For the entire write up follow the link : http://www.thescape.in/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1910