Sutapa Roy is a self-taught independent storytelling photographer based in Kolkata, India. She works on contemporary social issues that she finds a strong personal connection with. She has completed her masters in Bengali literature from Rabindra Bharati University. Currently, she is working for a media house. However, she has been practicing photography for the last five years. She believes photography is a strong medium that can shape the thoughts, opinions and ideas of a society maintaining the ethical value, as maintained in every work culture. She mostly uses this visual art form to question social injustice and create any possible resistance against its normalisation. She also loves to decode her spiritual connection with nature, landscapes and people.
Website: https://www.sutaparoy.com/
Instagram: manobihangam.photo
Twitter: SutapaR67145819
Dear Sutapa, Thank you for accepting our invitation and sharing your thoughts with us. Dear Readers, our conversation with Sutapa Roy and her insightful responses are included below.
Could you please provide us with an overview of your practice and the topics you are currently or have previously worked on?
Being a self-taught photographer, photography has been a cultivated passion for me. Hence It certainly is important for me to keep that hunger alive and preserve that practice in my daily life routine. I feel it is important to decipher the visualization of a scene from different perspectives. For example, I would like to visit a specific place (on street) in my city back-to-back for five days and take five different images of the same scene based on different composition techniques like angles, different foregrounds or motions, as well as focusing on detailing or colours. Analysing the images afterwards, I might ask myself which one really stands out for me and why. This practice helps me a lot to understand better about analysing a scene and how to make an image interesting. ‘River’ started just in this way, through a very organic and spontaneous process depicting my own journey into this photographic world just like water flows. ‘Wish my butterfly would live forever’ raised questions about the climate crisis from a personal viewpoint. ‘In search of a better life’ talks about the identity crisis of women working in brick-making factories. Generally, I feel I need to have a strong personal connection with the people or topics I work on.
What do you hope to convey with your images, and how do you plan to do so?
Well, for me it solely depends on the project I work on. Point is to keep in mind that my images, along with the story, are doing justice to the topic and helping it to achieve its desired intention. While working on a specific project, I like to read books, research papers, go through work on the same topic by other photographers or watching movies – these help to give fresh perspectives to my stories.
What were your first challenges as a self-taught photographer? How do you believe those challenges shaped your journey?
As a self-taught photographer, my initial task was to learn technical parts of digital image making process like camera handling, image capturing and image processing. Basically, I have learned through trial-and-error process. In that way, I learned not only how to do it, but also how NOT to do it, which I feel is really important. I feel one good part of the self-learning process is that it developed this inquisitive nature in me. Attending artists’ talks, and exhibitions, finding books, and cinemas, studying the journey of inspiring photographers’ careers, or sometimes simply watching an informative YouTube video about photography – these all together have made my way up here. It’s just like a bird collecting straws, twigs, leaves and mosses to make its nest.
We notice a strong bond between you and your daughter in your work. Could you please describe your relationship with her, as well as how difficult it was for you to express your feelings in your work?
I and Suhani are more like friends than mother-daughter. Sharing the day through every detail with each other is our daily routine at night including sharing funny memes or discussing concerns that float in our minds. This bonding with her helped me a lot through the project ‘Wish my Butterfly Would Live Forever’ which is in collaboration with her. The only difficulty I had in this project is the limitation of location. I did this story during COVID-19 lockdown and I had limited movements, so the images were taken in my house only and the challenge was to find a proper space to make images. This limitation helped me in improvising certain creative visual methods in this project.
Your approach to documenting the women's crisis is subtle yet powerful. Is there a specific formula for making this kind of idea work?
I don’t know if it could be seen as a formula but I try to call attention to the probable positive side of any story. ‘In search of a better life’ is a story about women workers working in brickfields in India. Hearing the story of their lives being trapped in this unorganised working sector puts us in distress, but I like to guide the viewers to see the positive side of their lives and the certain sense of hope that keeps them going. This perspective guided me towards perceiving the strength in slenderness, hearing the howl in silence.
Tell us about your river-related project and how it relates to your own story?
Being born and brought up in North Kolkata, river Hooghly has been a steady part of my life since childhood days regarding observing rituals, festivals, family days out or just playing on the Ghats. Project ‘River’ came into life through my initial days of learning photography as I had developed a spiritual connection with this place, and I relied on this place to start my journey. The compilation of images depicts my initial voyage in photography and the image-making process. Those moments gave me not only the knowledge of understanding how to make an image but also helped me to progress as a person. Being an introverted person, photography helped me to overcome my own boundaries and encouraged me to see the world from a fresh perspective. I realized my strength and competence in this visual art form. I owe a lot to this project for that.
You've attended numerous workshops both nationally and internationally; how has this aided you as a photographer and visual storyteller?
Yes, I have had this opportunity to learn from various acclaimed photographers around the world and the workshops have been immensely insightful for me to further build up my knowledge, show directions or to develop different visual languages. Besides images, what I have learned is the merit of story-writing and its equal importance in getting the desired meaning of a project. There are lots of workshops running worldwide that are offering guidance to photographers. I always keep my eyes on those and look for workshops focusing on a specific part of the whole process where I feel I need to work more.
As a West Bengal native, what aspects of Kolkata do you want to change and don’t want to change?
I really don’t see anything in my city or state that needs to be changed. Its richness in culture and art, the love and sincerity we share in West Bengal for each other is exemplary. I love the diversity in our food culture. From Territy Bazar Chinese breakfast to Arsalan biriyani at lunch, fuchka to jhalmuri or just take a sip of tea from a clay pot, we know to enjoy and celebrate Kolkata’s culinary feast. I wish this charm of the city remains unchanged forever.
What does Sutapa do when she is not making photographs?
Doing musical performances, reading books, or spending time with my daughter in weekends are my favourite pastime. I also love to make experimental foods occasionally.
What is the most important lesson you have learned so far? Do you have any final thoughts for us as students of this craft?
I feel that believing in my own work is the most important lesson that I have learned in these years. Trusting your own work, knowing why you are doing it, working on it, keeping the motivation alive, pushing yourself further to your limits and not relying solely on likes or comments on social media for the validation of your work are the key factors that help. I believe learning is a never-ending process and I am also learning many good things from the freshers who are doing a wonderful job in this craft. It is just that we need to slowly build the nest of the bird thriving inside us.
Thank you for reading!!
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