Framing Aucitya in Photography: A Study of the Determining Principles in Photographs

Abstract

All forms of art embody imagination, and it is medium-specific. This research investigates how photography embodies imagination, for the photography method differs from other art forms in its unique way. A painter builds the image stroke by stroke with paints. In photography, the canvas is partially filled with what exists before the camera. The processes involved in creating images, whether by analogue techniques or digital, point to the fact that it is not entirely automatic. Technology automates some features but involves thought processes, and the photographer makes precise decisions about it. There is some kind of 'occurring' at play. This research aims to understand the form of photography irrespective of the various contexts in which it is performed by gaining insights from Indian and Western philosophical traditions. This study attempts to knit together a formal theory of Photography from the viewpoint of the theory of Aucitya developed by the eleventh-century Kashmiri poet and critic Kṣemendra. It takes a step toward creating a dialogue between ancient theories of Indian aesthetics and contemporary visual arts. There have been few attempts to study photography in contemporary visual arts from Aucitya's viewpoint. This study proposes a theoretical framework for Photography based on Aucitya. It identifies a set of nine photographic determinants to explore a formal structure. The study claims that these photographic determinants allow one to break away from the closed movement of the default linear perspective embedded within the camera's architecture. By analysing various analogue and digital photographs, the research finds that these determinants become the impetus to fix a photographic frame, and the possible meanings ride on these determinants. Further, this study locates Aucitya in the works of artist-photographer Jyoti Bhatt, who is widely recognized as a painter, printmaker, and photographer. The interaction of various twodimensional visual media in his practice is interesting. This research attempts to show what photographic principles guide his practice.