25 July,2009 07:38 AM IST | | Aastha Atray Banan
A book that's about to hit the market costs Rs 950 and has no text, but it's one the author and publishers hope you'll read. Fingerprint is Italian artist Andrea Anastasio's effort at turning a symbol of crime and surveillance, into a work of art. Interested?
There is a black fingerprint on page 1. A pink one joins it on page 2. Three more on page 3, and yes, you guessed right four on page 4.
The fingerprints increase in number, sometimes circling around each other, and at other times, overlapping. Andrea Anastasio's Fingerprint, a forthcoming title from Chennai publishers Tara Books, is a baffling publication.
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This moment both, banal and ominous stayed with him until it worked its way into his art.
"While it's true that the global scenario demands a different approach to security, we must realise that we are rapidly moving towards the Orwellian scenario that doesn't leave an individual feeling free and secure," Anatasio argues.
The book, a visual fable, celebrates resistance to state surveillance and control. But will it really work for the lay reader?
Tara Books editor and historian V Geetha, who has written the afterword to the book, says the work caught her fancy because Anastasio has managed to disassociate the fingerprint from its usual context, looking at what's used to separate undesirable citizens from desirable ones, criminals from law-abiding citizens, and aliens from natives, with fresh eyes.
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Twenty four year-old freelance writer and avid reader Aashish Shakya believes the book is "just an expensive paperweight". Why would he buy a book that has stuff school kids make at art class?
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R Sriram, former CEO of Crossword chain of bookstores, and co-founder, Next Practice Retail says he isn't surprised with Shakya's response because the book is aimed at a niche audience.
"Art lovers are sure to pick it up since Tara Books is known for their production quality. But a lay reader will find it hard to spend that much on a book with no text."
For those of you
Who just went, "EH?"
Artist and Fingerprint "writer" Andrea Anastasio explains the idea behind the book
What's the significance behind the colours?
The colours stand for the five races in which human beings are classified. I've suggested white skin through pink since I wanted to introduce a humourous reference to the actual colour of "white" skin.
What do you expect readers to take away from the book?
I hope the reader gets involved with the visual dimension of the book, almost like playing with a toy. From browsing between pages, they will manage to find an independent way of reading the story, while keeping in mind a more political interpretation. I was experimenting with the idea of "writing" a story without using words. The rest is for the reader to find out.
Will you buy it?
It's revolutionary, but expensiveShrimi Sinha, 25, real estate consultantI like the way the artist has chosen to register his protest. It's revolutionary.
I don't agree with fingerprinting surveillance and I want to support his voice. But it's too expensive.
No, it's a costly paperweight
Ashish, Shakya, 24, freelance humour writerThe book is just an expensive paperweight. I'd never buy a book that has stuff school kids can make at art class.
Fingerprints can't bracket identity
"Andrea makes interesting patterns with the fingerprint, by colouring it, showing how even one single fingerprint can actually end up being part of an incredible number of patterns.
His art demonstrates how all attempts to bracket identity are self-defeating, for identities are not fixed, and they change in time, through association."Tara Books editor and historian V Geetha
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