Capturing essence of Thaipusam
PUBLISHED ONJanuary 15, 2016 3:56 AMByAmrita Kaur
MR RICHARD Seah and Mr Ramesh Ramakrishnan Iyer first met at a photo contest organised by Camera Rental Centre in 2013. But they became friends only after they kept bumping into each other during photo walks at Chinatown and during Thaipusam.
Mr Seah first photographed the Hindu festival of Thaipusam in 1985, when he was a journalist with The Business Times. He published a photo essay about the event. Although he was "fascinated with the festival", he often missed it as it was not a public holiday. In 2004, he decided to take photography more seriously and, since then, he has been photographing Thaipusam annually except for one year when he was unwell.
Marketing consultant Iyer, too, has been taking photos during Thaipusam since 2004. He has also made photography trips to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Sabah and published many photo essay books based on his experiences.
Last year, the Singapore-based photographers, who share a common interest in culture, the arts and spirituality, decided to collaborate on a book titled Thaipusam: An Exploration Of Faith, Devotion And Surrender. Said Mr Seah: "Ramesh suggested that we do a book together. It was something that I had thought about, so I readily agreed."
The book, which costs $88, is a collection of photographs, prose, poetry and personal anecdotes celebrating Thaipusam. It contains 12 years of Mr Seah's work and six years of Mr Iyer's work.
The book will be launched on Jan 21 at 7pm at the Immagini Gallery on Waterloo Street. There will also be a photo exhibition from Jan 22 to 26 from noon to 7pm.
Said Mr Iyer: "It is quite a rare collection of photos from several years of this festival in Singapore and Malaysia.
"In the book, one can get a wide overview of the practices and some sharp focus of the pictures of the kavadi preparation, the kavadi journey and even pictures of the devotees in the final kavadi destination at the Murugan temple in Tank Road in Singapore."
amritak@sph.com.sg
Get a copy of tabla! for more stories.