Lost In The Wilderness — Kalpesh Lathigra

Kalpesh Lathigra born 1971 is a British photographer who began his career as a photojournalist winning a first prize in the World Press Photo competition He later shifted to personal artistic projects producing Lost in the Wilderness 2015 and Memoire Temporelle 2022 For Lost in the Wilderness he photographed life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota He explains his choice of subject As children we rarely question the games we play or what we absorb through popular media films books and everyday conversations For my generation playing cowboys and Indians was universal as was watching John Wayne and Gary Cooper fight against Indians who were always cast as the enemy In these games I was always the Indian never the cowboy because of my Indian heritage though from the subcontinent India was where others saw me belonging Books like Dee Browns Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Ian Fraziers On the Rez became crucial texts as I developed my photographic project at Pine Ridge Reservation Lost in the Wilderness explores feeling at home in an unfamiliar place neither East London India nor Africa Pine Ridge is vast I didnt set out to create a photojournalistic essay about life there or to study the Lakota Sioux tribe Im not Edward Curtis These photographs capture people places moments and details I connected with allowing each image to tell its own story Consider the house on the hill painted with the Stars and Stripes which I titled Fort Robinson Near this house stands the actual fort a site layered with civil rights history home to the first black cavalry regiment the Buffalo Soldiers and the place where the legendary Lakota warrior Crazy Horse was killed The landscapes home interiors a man wearing a bonnet or a gravestone marked Lost Bird hint at but cannot fully represent the challenges facing the Lakota on Pine Ridge While poverty death and daily hardships are real theres an undimmed sense of hope and pride among the people I dont claim expertise in local politics I work in the visual realm photographing what feels true to me My work is an incomplete visual poem I revise review and rework the visual stanzas until they settle on the eye This work bound in cloth covered hardcover is printed on coated paper 108 pages measuring 28 5 x 27 Lost in the Wilderness Issız Doğada Kaybolmak Kalpesh Lathigra 1971 doğumlu bir İngiliz fotoğrafçısıdır Kariyerine foto muhabiri olarak başlamış ve World Press Photo yarışmasında birincilik ödülü kazanmıştır Daha sonra kişisel sanat projelerine yönelerek Lost in the Wilderness 2015 ve Memoire Temporelle 2022 eserlerini üretmiştir Lost in the Wilderness projesi için Güney Dakotadaki Pine Ridge Kızılderili Rezervasyonunda fotoğraflar çekmiştir Sanatçı konu seçimini şöyle açıklıyor Çocukken oynadığımız oyunları ya da popüler medya aracılığıyla yani filmler kitaplar ve günlük konuşmalarla içselleştirdiklerimizi nadiren sorgularız Benim kuşağım için kovboy kızılderili oyunları oynamak John Wayne ve Gary Cooperın her zaman düşman olarak gösterilen Kızılderililerle savaştığı filmleri izlemek çok doğaldı Bu oyunlarda ben hep Kızılderili olurdum asla kovboy değil çünkü Hint kökenliydim Zaten herkes beni Hindistanlı yani Indian olarak görüyordu Dee Brownın Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Kalbimi Wounded Kneede Göm ve Ian Frazierın On the Rez Rezervasyonda kitapları Pine Ridge Rezervasyonundaki fotoğraf projesini geliştirirken başvuru kaynaklarım oldu Issız Doğada Kaybolmak tanıdık olmayan bir yerde Doğu Londrada Hindistanda ya da Afrikada değil kendini evinde hissetmeyi araştırıyor Pine Ridge çok geniş bir alan Buradaki yaşamı foto muhabiri gözüyle belgelemek ya da Lakota Sioux kabilesini incelemek gibi bir amacım yoktu Bu fotoğraflar bağlantı kurduğum insanları yerleri anları ve detayları yakalıyor her görüntünün kendi hikayesini anlatmasına olanak tanıyor Örneğin Yıldızlar ve Şeritler ile boyanmış tepedeki ev fotoğrafını ele alalım buna Fort Robinson adını verdim Bu evin yakınındaki gerçek kale sivil haklar tarihiyle iç içe geçmiş bir yer ilk siyahi süvari alayına Buffalo Askerlerine ev sahipliği yapmış ve efsanevi Lakota savaşçısı Çılgın Atın öldürüldüğü yer Manzaralar ev içi görüntüleri başlık takan bir adam veya üzerinde Kayıp Kuş yazan bir mezar taşı Pine Ridgedeki Lakotaların karşılaştığı zorlukları ima ediyor ama tam olarak yansıtamıyor Yoksulluk ölüm ve günlük zorluklar gerçek olsa da insanlar arasında sönmeyen bir umut ve gurur duygusu var Yerel siyaset konusunda uzman olduğumu iddia etmiyorum ben görsel alanda çalışıyorum ve bana doğru gelen şeyleri fotoğraflıyorum Benim çalışmam tamamlanmamış görsel bir şiir göze oturana kadar görsel kıtaları gözden geçiriyor yeniden değerlendiriyor ve yeniden işliyorum Kuşe kağıda basılmış bez sıvama cilt içindeki bu eser 108 sayfa ve 28 5 x 27 cm boyutlarında

Kalpesh Lathigra born 1971 is a British photographer who began his career as a photojournalist winning a first prize in the World Press Photo competition He later shifted to personal artistic projects producing Lost in the Wilderness 2015 and Memoire Temporelle 2022 For Lost in the Wilderness he photographed life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota He explains his choice of subject As children we rarely question the games we play or what we absorb through popular media films books and everyday conversations For my generation playing cowboys and Indians was universal as was watching John Wayne and Gary Cooper fight against Indians who were always cast as the enemy In these games I was always the Indian never the cowboy because of my Indian heritage though from the subcontinent India was where others saw me belonging Books like Dee Brown s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Ian Frazier s On the Rez became crucial texts as I developed my photographic project at Pine Ridge Reservation Lost in the Wilderness explores feeling at home in an unfamiliar place neither East London India nor Africa Pine Ridge is vast I didn t set out to create a photojournalistic essay about life there or to study the Lakota Sioux tribe I m not Edward Curtis These photographs capture people places moments and details I connected with allowing each image to tell its own story Consider the house on the hill painted with the Stars and Stripes which I titled Fort Robinson Near this house stands the actual fort a site layered with civil rights history home to the first black cavalry regiment the Buffalo Soldiers and the place where the legendary Lakota warrior Crazy Horse was killed The landscapes home interiors a man wearing a bonnet or a gravestone marked Lost Bird hint at but cannot fully represent the challenges facing the Lakota on Pine Ridge While poverty death and daily hardships are real there s an undimmed sense of hope