Transcending for Transforming Transgender Beauty
Photo by : Incredible India Info
Exhibition and book by L. Ramachandran
Transgender
is defined as the people who have gender expression differs from their assigned
natural gender. An effort made to touch
upon the sensitive core of humanity, to bring into public domain an issue of
gender particularly Transgender or Trans-women lies at the heart of a new suite
of works developed by the photographer/artist L. Ramachandran. The famous
playboy photographer has
perfectly captured their expressions and marvellously pictured it in the
frame. In his present suite of
works, he has given a break to fashion photography, which concerned the
representation of sensuous, opulent and vibrant female bodies to bring in a
sensitive awareness of the social reality of so-called third gender or the
transgender. Their marginalised presence in society had preoccupied him
for a long time, consequent to his study on gender and marginalisation as a
concern and issue which now needed focus to highlight their woes.
His efforts in this
direction were consequent to reading a book written by the author Paal Suyambu that opened painful vistas on their
lives, taking a decision to configure their circuits of experiences
particularly of rejection and non-acceptance by the society in his photographic
frames. Through the medium of photography, he desired to document their
everyday travails by bringing about a correspondence between his concepts and
the aesthetics of his materials.
He has a series named ‘Bond’ that supports this
cause in which he says, “Bond in human relationships is characterised by
emotions as affections and trust leading to confidence building and eventual
happiness. A bond thus shared is a matter of soul where discrimination of any
sort ceases to exist. Highlighting here the issues that the LGBT community
faces. The models here radiate with happiness oblivious to society’s
judgement.†The varied concepts related to ‘Struggle for Freedomâ€, “Multi
Facesâ€, “Posh Transâ€, “Adoration of Beautyâ€, “Hopeless Soulâ€, “Fantasy
“Weddingâ€, “Bondâ€, “Transformationâ€, “Angst, Anger and Painâ€, “Gothicâ€,
“Blossomingâ€. These varied concepts were visualised by the artist/photographer
insight-fully, subjecting it to intellectual pondering juxtaposed with the
metaphoric portrayal that made the process of visual reading not only complex
but also enigmatic. With a strong core concept, the aesthetics had to be
visualised; and it was here that Ramachandran established his credentials as an
artist – planning and structuring the juxtapositions of colours, the textures,
the appropriate props, and seminal the lighting, which was an emotive and
expressive drawing tool
L.Ramachandran is a self-taught photographer who has a huge passion towards photography and arts. He is the first Playboy photographer from India. He has recently received two prestigious awards, a doctorate for contribution in photography form international Tamil university and ATIM’s top 60 Masters of the Contemporary award.
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