It was not easy to bring a selection of Diwan Manna’s photos for Uddari Art as he is an accomplished photo artist with many years of work; however, it was enjoyable and at times awesome, to view some of Diwan Manna’s creations.
I am happy to present the first set of photos containing about three samples each from his first four theme series of Alienation, Violence, Shores of the Unknown, and After the Turmoil; a body of work spanning 1980 to the Present. During this time, Manna has worked on more themes and, we will explore them in the coming weeks.
Manna displays a contained and skillful command over his creations both in form and content; and, in that, commits to the content by transcending limitations of form to create what he calls a ‘confluence of photography, painting, theatre and literature’ in support of a concept.
Re-exploring many of the themes that have captured our imagination at all times and places, Manna presents the unique perspective of a Punjabi ‘Western’ artist who does not stress his ‘Punjabiness’ or ‘Westernness’ but brings them together to present his own point of view. In the Shores of the Unknown, for example, Manna uses a chaadar/covercloth as a recurrent symbol of the hidden and the mysterious drawing from his ‘Eastern’ experience; but uses it to create distance than mystery, dis-passion than passion, in the manner of a pragmatist.
I was most intrigued by his Violence Series where he rejects the usage of the gruesome to induce fear, loathing or anger; creating almost stationary and dull images to encourage the viewer to contemplate the issue instead of going for the ‘feel’ of it. In this, he challenges the viewer to think than to succumb to emotional hype or ventilation.
His presentation of the often-explored myth of Adam and Eve is refreshing in that the images display a golden woman and a green man that are beautiful and ‘ample’ like fruitful trees in the beginning of Autumn. View the one above us. In other words, Manna does not buy into the ’sinful’, ‘greedy’ or ‘bad-sexual’ aspects of this misleading tale. And, After the Turmoil-13 is a point of departure again in both content and form.
