Many of my artworks are based on my collaboration with professional photographers. Read in this mini series about the enormous advantage this has had on my art.
The Power of Collaborations
While my global approach was the major driving force behind my collaborations with international photographers (>> cf. 20 | The Photographers I Work With (1) ), a second and previously not anticipated aspect became really powerful: the beauty of the images captured by another visual artist has set free unprecedented potential for growing my own technical skills. When a certain photo attracts my attention so much that I want to paint it, I couldn’t care less about the challenges I will have to face when it comes to painting certain details.
And if there is still some uncertainty lingering in my thoughts, it is usually cleared away easily by the unbiased trust in me I receive from my photographer friends. As soon as the digital photo file reaches my inbox I feel ready to accept the challenge without hesitation.
Let me now continue introducing you to some of the photographers I work with and let me tell you about how much I gain from this collaboration – as an artist and as a person.
Anjan Gosh, Kolkata | India
I have talked about Anjan in my blog a lot already (cf. The Humanity Project India, No. 5, 6, 18, 19), I am not going to repeat all that here. Instead, I want to focus here on the difference that our collaboration has made on my art as it has inspired my work enormously. I could say that our collaboration itself is proof of the essence of my artist mission statement, which goes, “I strive to tear down borders and overcome distances with my artwork. While I explore the great variety of different cultures and individual characters, I also zoom in on an individual’s emotions – worries and joys, fears and hopes, sorrows and luck, passions and ambitions. By capturing everything I perceive, I strive to overcome differences, focusing instead on similarities.”
Joined Forces – Doubled Success
Coming from two different and very distinct cultures, our common passion for people has led to the crossing of our individual paths. It didn’t take long until our collaboration turned into friendship. And due to the course of the world, our friendship has also been shaped by now almost 17 months into a pandemic that have separated countries through shutdowns and isolation and, at the same time, have united humans globally on an emotional level because we all experience the same fearful situation and have developed the same hopes. However and unfortunately, some people’s fears are deeper and of more existential significance because the world and societies everywhere are divided into rich and poor, into those in power and the powerless, into those being visible and those being overlooked. To build a bridge and to fill the gap between “us” and “them” is the ultimate goal of my artistic mission and Anjan’s too.
Joining forces in this endeavor has caused massive inspiration and motivation and will hopefully lead to doubled success as well. I think my art has benefitted a lot from this collaboration so far. Not only have my technical skills improved but I was also able to expand my artistic concept to what I now call “The Humanity Projects”.
About Anjan
Anjan is a photographer and storyteller from Kolkata, India, focusing on rural and semi-urban life in India. Furthermore he has travelled internationally and explored the beauty and authenticity of various other cultures with his camera.
- See Anjan’s >>website
- Find Anjan >>on Facebook
- Find Anjan >>on Instagram
Read more about the photographers I work with:
- Hans-Joachim Reiter
- Laia López Barnadas (upcoming)
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