Magical mystery in black and white

Matthias Wahner shows in his photographs the possibilities of including an apparently average human being in famous shots, such as that of the Beatles

The photographs are amusing, revealing and thought-provoking. Could the photograph of an apparently average human being be included in famous shots, such as that of President Kennedy, John Lenon and Yoko Ono, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip or Clerk Gable and Grace Kelly? Was Wahner really there in the world famous picture of the Vietnam War or with the Japanese Emperor Hirohito in the royal garden? The idea is amusing and worth a serious thought, and this is not just because Wahner has many awards to his credit for his photographic works, or has held many exhibitions in European capital cities. The theme of the exhibition is surely satirical and nouveau and not just new-fangled. This is undoubtedly photography with a purpose and one welcomes this feat after the humdrum displays that tend to delineate, at times, little else but apparent beauty even though this is often pegged on to display topics like "heritage, "environment" or "scenic beauty". This display at Dhaka is above average and thought-provoking as very few other displays have been, so far, except those with the initiative of "Drik" behind them. Hopefully, after Ramadan, more photography enthusiasts will flock to the display.

Wahner brings in different cultures sometimes, under the same roof, as in the photo of himself and Superman in New York, where Germany and USA apparently mix and mingle with ease just as Germany and Italy are brought together in the painting "Germania and Italia", an allegorical creation. The photographs keep academic training in mind, although the Wahner presents himself as well-educated, sceptical, keeping his viewers at an arm's distance while, in the same image, Superman is somewhat rude and austere. Though Superman is there to illustrate the success of the "good, bad and the ugly." He stands for the Puritanical concept of families almost half a century back: the first super-man of the common American.

Clement Greenberg of New York, comments, "It is a platitude that art becomes not caviar to the general, when the reality it imitates corresponds even to the reality recognised by the general. However, it is not an unanswered question in which date between Superman and Matthias Wahner will end. Wahner will be his disciple imitating pubescent craze, but in a way which prefers the European level of a train, which ha merely left his station fifty years ago. That our well-educated Robin knows this well, makes the provenance of melancholy in this photopiece."

It is said that two centuries back the link between the reality and the fake has come under examination. It is considered as a mind-boggling area of arts and crafts. Whether this deals with copying a millions of dollars worth of art piece or forging of a Van Gogh painting, the margin between the reality and the copy is not all that lucid.

In the same manner, historical importance maybe conveyed by false photographs. This maybe traced back to the beginning of the press and the TV, according to European authorities of photography, due to retouching of negatives and positives of photographs.

Images could be left out of the frame or added at will by the montage technique. Since the Paris Commune days of 1971 juggling of photos have been done for political ends. Wahner's simulation, fiction and reality are to question the minds of his viewers and to wake them up from their complacency. The retouching with digital since the eighties, has brought in acceptance in the motifs and designs of commodities that flood the commercial and advertising world. In a London magazine, the famous personalities, Lady Di, Muammar Gadaffi, Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth and Elvis Presley were seen enjoying themselves together at a digitally created dinner party. Hence we see the wondrous changes of creations have been brought about over the decades by changes in tones, perspectives, backgrounds have been brought in to the last point and beyond. Today the early attempts in photographic changes in images appear amateur. Today, in the progressive world, there are only a few who believe that photos are there to imitate nature and reality.

In the same vein, Wahner is somewhat romantic in his imagination, in bringing in the unknown and far-flung situations that make you both laugh and cry. One admires Wahner for not only his academic feats but also for the vital message that he conveys: what is obviously apparent is not necessarily the whole truth.