14 October,2010 01:36 PM IST | | PRACHI SIBAL
French photographer Charles Freger's fascination for uniforms began in the small French town of Rouen, and landed him in Ramgarh cantonment, Jharkhand. A city gallery hosts an exhibition of his photographs that capture the garb of Ramgarh's Sikh regiment, Chinese opera actors and Finnish ice skaters
The connection between a French naval ship docking in Rouen, a hamlet in France, and a young man travelling decades later to Ramgarh, a cantonment town in the Indian state of Jharkhand, runs deep -- photographer Charles Freger was then a young boy fascinated by the docked ship that he believes changed his life. Because it was then that his fascination for uniforms took seed.
From the series Empire, 2004-2007
From the series Sikh Regiment of India, 2010
Young Freger, who loved photography, carried with him a list of things to capture in his camera; sailors figured high on that list. He soon managed to obtain permission to photograph all the uniformed men on that ship.
His first assignment dated back to 1997 when he was involved in semiologic research while still a student of fine arts. "After that, I jumped to portraits. It gave me a good excuse to look people in the eye," Freger says in an email interview. His uniformed portraits ranged from Sumo wrestlers in Tokyo, Chinese opera singers in Beijing, policemen in Moscow to Vietnamese Buddhist monks, French majorettes, European Royal guards, English Catholic school students and the Finnish ice skating team.
From the series titled, Opera, China, 2005
From the series Hereros, Namibia, 2007. It follows the Hereros tribes
in Namibia and its annual commemoration of the Battle of Wattenberg
An entire book of portraits titled Empire, based on the many regiments under the European empire, followed. It was in August this year that Freger arrived in India to photograph the Sikh regiment of Ramgarh. "I was fascinated by the strange uniform they wore; a mixture of Sikh and Scottish elements," Freger says. Although it took him a year-and-a-half to obtain permissions from the Regiment, the Defence Ministry of India and the Ministry of External Affairs, it was worth it, he admits. His decision to shoot in India was a rather delayed one and his experience behind the lens here, different. "Everything in this country is alive; you are almost invading when you visit. The exoticism needs to be slowed down and captured to produce good art work."
Uniforms mean more to Freger than the idea of branding and the customary sense of belonging to a community. "The difference between each member of the group, despite the uniforms, is what interests me. The idea is to get into the circle of the group. It is almost like a territorial conquest, and sometimes needs long-term negotiation," Freger says.
Winner Face is from a series on Finnish ice skaters
From the Sikh Regiment of India, 2010
The photographer believes each person has a different way of fitting into the uniform, both, physically and mentally. Recounting an incident on one of his assignments in Northern Ireland, he says, "I was photographing a young soldier in a traditional Scottish Regiment, the Black Watch. He carried a heavy historical weight and strong meaning through names of ancient battles with his uniform but he was just 19!" Freger is now in the middle of a project called Wilder Man, photographing folkloric, pagan Europeans groups. "The people dress up in very strange ways, almost like monsters," he says.
You can view the Charles Freger collection at Matthieu Foss Gallery, Hansraj Damodar Building, Ballard Estate.
Call: 67477261
