Broadening the canvas

Photography is beginning to show potential as a form of art that can be accorded the same respect as painting or sculpture.

Archival prints are not cheap to make, so photographers do digital prints that have a limited shelf life. This is not art being sold because 10 years later it will have faded."

"" Amit Pasricha

"Recognising photography as an art form is the first step to creating visual literacy."

"" Gauri Gill

"You do hundreds of images every year and have to sift through the lot to decide on the two or three images that will linger beyond any context."

"" Dayanita Singh

The art market hasn't seen a more buoyant phase, and as prices outstrip each previous rec-ord, it's becoming clear it's impacting associated creative fields with growing exuberance. And photography "" sooner rather than later "" is beginning to stir with a potential that has only just begun to be tapped as a form of art that can be "collected", sold in the same way as a painting or a piece of sculpture.

The last years have seen an increase in the number of photography exhibitions "" with mixed results. For starters, few of these exhibitions are held at galleries, but are usually posted in cafeterias, or other "less commercial" spaces.

"Since the market for photography isn't that hot, galleries don't want to exhibit it," says Israr Qureshi. "So, photographers are forced to exhibit in informal venues such as lounge bars."

There is a perception photography exhibitions still continue to be ruled by the coffee-table book palindrome of pretty pictures rather than works that intend to communicate beyond just visual beauty. Nor have these images entered the secondary market yet "" so a Raghu Rai or a Sooni Taraporevala are not being traded in the marketplace at a value more than might have been paid at the time of acquisition.

Finally, of course, no attempt has been made to popularise art photography beyond the library/study and office spaces to which it has been restricted for decades.

Which is why Maneka Gandhi's forthcoming exhibition to raise funds for People For Animals (The Incredible Moment, August 19-21 at ITC Maurya Sheraton, Delhi) with an astounding 2,000 works contributed by 250-odd photographers is an epochal moment to evaluate the changing perceptions among photography collectors in India.

If it is not yet an investment, is in fact not even drawing value-based prices (all works at the exhibition are priced between Rs 2,000-25,000), at least part of the confusion comes from the easy accessibility and availability of photographic art.

"A collector needs to be informed," explains Dayanita Singh, who exhibits for most part overseas, "whether a work is editioned or not." A non-edition work will have less value than one that is available in limited editions.

Sharvini Patel, one of the participants at the Photographer's Guild exhibition in Mumbai (supported by Giordani Timewear), says: "People don't buy photographs for fear that these can be reproduced since the negative is with the photographer. Therefore, photographers are coming out with limited edition guarantees" "" Dayanita Singh, for instance, does only seven editions of a print, and likes to keep tabs on each to ensure there is no illegal trafficking in her work.

Amit Pasricha's point about the life of a print is another dampener when buying photographs. "In two years, silver gelatin will probably no longer be available for archival works," says Singh, "and the archival value depends on whether you use RC (resin coated) or fibre for the print.

The point," she explains, "is not that you should not sell non-editioned art, or works using RC, but that the buyer needs to be informed because it has a bearing on the price."

It's also important to ensure works are only exhibited and sold through galleries with very strong ethics since, technically, it's easy to duplicate photo images. Gandhi's exhibition is important because buyers will have to sign an agreement stating they will not duplicate any of the works, nor loan them out for exhibitions.

Mumbai photographer Jatin Kampani feels the lack of commercial activity in art photography has limited its growth. "Industrialists buy lots of paintings for their offices but never framed photographs," he says.

But Gauri Gill, who is exhibiting for the first time at the People for Animals exhibition, is concerned about the "commodification" that might result from increasing sales at galleries.

"I resist being categorised," she says, "and want to be free to engage with the world, to work freely and then see where it fits. As a photographer I want my space and don't want to be limited to galleries or do limited edition prints."

While the ethics and dilemmas of art photography need to be debated, it's clear that the Maneka Gandhi mandate on an enforced low pricing could prove beneficial to the collector looking to spot a bargain. But as investment? "Such secondary sales will happen once the entire editions of a work are over," explains Dayanita Singh, "so you cannot calibrate photography as an investment in the same manner that you can do in the case of other art, since where works are exhibited, collected and positioned worldwide have an impact."

Inputs by Anuradha Shenoy