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Photographer Captures Life Beyond Conflict
6 Sep
Summary
- Irish photographer Seamus Murphy's exhibition "Life is in Many Days" is in India.
- Murphy documents Pashtun women's frank oral poetry, known as landays.
- He critiques AI's threat to truth, likening it to transactional concepts.
Irish documentary photographer Seamus Murphy, a seven-time World Press Photo winner, is showcasing his extensive body of work in India for the first time. His exhibition, 'Life is in Many Days,' at Museo Camera in Gurugram, presents decades of his photography from Afghanistan, Ireland, Russia, the US, and India. Murphy’s connection to India began with Kolkata, a city he fell in love with and now spends part of the year. He finds refuge in Kolkata's traditional values amidst the 'evils of the modern world.'
Murphy is known for his deeply human approach, capturing coal miners laughing or girls on bicycles in war-torn villages, challenging the cliché of conflict photography. He has followed one Kabul family since 1994, documenting their lives through war and exile. His work also highlights the oral poetry tradition of Pashtun women, known as landays, which offers frank insights into their lives and experiences, often likened to spontaneous rap.
Critiquing the reshaping of photography by AI, Murphy fears that truth is becoming a 'transactional concept.' He warns that in the age of AI, belief can precede reality, a dangerous shift from photography's traditional role of 'seeing is believing.' He also reflects on India's history, expressing interest in photographing the 1947 Partition and the Bengal famine, and notes parallels between British colonial history in Ireland and India, and current events in Palestine.
