KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 -- Photographer Vignes Balasingam is actively involved in community-based projects such as FOTOPROJEK : BERSIH 3.0 / RETROSPECTIVE which was a series of photo exhibitions chronicling April 28, 2012, the day of the third BERSIH demonstration.
Most recently, he organised the inaugural OBSCURA Festival, an annual international photography festival in Penang featuring 11 exhibitions, four workshops, five curated slideshows, masterclasses and workshops.
He also shoots for commercial clients and does portraits.
Heart for art Q+A
Vignes Balasingam believes that you need to be active in something that can affect positive change. Through photography, he has touched many hearts through his lenses.
Were you trained as a photographer and how did it all start?
I did not get a formal education in photography. My introduction to photography was through my mother. She was a lover of National Geographic and Life magazines.
What is your educational background?
I did a diploma in Sound Engineering, then I did my Bachelor's in Contemporary Music Writing. My background is actually music. I played the guitar back then in a band called the 50 Cents Jazz Club. We used to do private shows, basically we ran our own show at Actor's Studio. We never played in clubs, nothing. The only time we played invited was for the very first Urbanscapes back in 2002.
You've been a photographer for years. How does one perfect one's art?
When we were organising OBSCURA, we were looking at prints and I could see when the print was off. I could tell the printer guy why it was off, where it was off... was there a colour shift somewhere? These things, to a lot of people, they are blind to it. But years of working you start to see it. Good printers know this.
It's these little nuances that no one can teach you. You just have to learn by doing. It would be good if someone can point you in the right direction but that's all they can do.
What was the most memorable thing you photographed --- something that you will never forget?
The most memorable thing I saw I did not photograph because I was so much in shock that I forgot that I had a camera with me. I had an assignment with an NGO to go into the jungle in Sarawak. It was myself, two members of the NGO and a guide. So we travelled three hours up Sungai Tatau to this village. When we got there, there was a jetty. The moment we got to the longhouse, the people saw us and immediately jumped out of the windows. This is a rumah panjang that has stilts so it was about eight to 10 feet off the ground.
They jumped out of the windows, jumped out of the balconies, ran down the stairs, under the house into the jungle and they looked at us from the back of the trees. It was unmistakeable that they were terrified of us. Then our guide told us to wait. He went up near the house and he called people out and 45 minutes later they came out. Then I realised what was going on. Apparently they were told by certain politicians that if you were caught talking or seen with people from outside, there will be hell to pay.
There I was thinking about photographs of the Ibans with their tattoos... how majestic they looked. That image was completely challenged by what I saw as the same people were now wearing shorts, cheap, torn T-shirts and looking like mice when the cats have come.
Are you an activist?
Someone once asked me if I was an environmentalist and said how can you call yourself an environmentalist because it is your responsibility to the environment to be careful with it. So we are all environmentalists. They ask me if I'm human... that's a crazy question right? Same with an activist. Yes and no. But it's my responsibility as a human being, as a member of society to be an activist, to do something.
You need to be active in something that you believe in otherwise how can you affect positive change. As long as the activism is inclusive lah. A lot of people are activists for personal gain.
Activism is about yourself, your environment, your people, everything. It is to contribute to your society in a positive way.
I believe in humanity. I think we have so much to learn as a species about ourselves... about people. And the best place to learn is from home. Your home is your community. It's about fostering good relationships with yourself and your people.
Without being too metaphysical, we're only here for a short time. At the end of your journey, what do you want to look back and see? I think what I want to look back and see is a life that was good... for myself, for my society. That I have left something behind that people can take and develop. To make a better society. Maybe it's too idealistic but you got to be idealistic about something or else nothing will happen.
This story was first published in Crave in the print edition of The Malay Mail, 12 September 2013.
