In 2002 Indian contemporary artist and printmaker, Prasannakumar, spent a month with an indigenous tribe that lives outside of Chennai. They have their own language and their own distinct culture untouched by the imposing modernism of India. They have no written script and outwardly refuse to change their ancient ways. Prasannkumars diaristic photographs are moving to say the least. Sympathetic toward his subjects, Prasannakumars work gives great dignity to this tribe of people that date back perhaps hundreds of years though today are forced to survive largely through hunting and selling handicraft beads. We naturally ask ourselves how we define civilization: why were some taken into the fold and others left out? The experience of this community without the written word was no doubt a profound one for the artist. His group of works titled The Braile Series (2007) show Prasannakumar translating key passages of the bible where Christ speaks about the blind into the touch-language of brail. He displays it elegantly, white on white or black on black, so it is nearly hidden from our view. Set behind glass, the works are complex in meaning. They are certainly compassionate toward those without eyesight though position the viewer as equally debilitated as those who are blind: the enlightenment of the text is distanced from all of us. Prasannakumar creates in this way a democratizing image that shows all our frailties and imperfections, asking simultaneously significant questions about our own need to be heard and our need to be answered in a vernacular that we understand. In his Self-Portrait I & II (2008), the artists own face is virtually indecipherable, both because it is gloss-black printed on black card but also because he is behind a camera in the image. Add to this the lens that is the glass on the frame and you have an artwork with many layers of meaning. As with Felt with Fingers I & II (2007), he creates a version of the works in white as well even though both versions elude us equally.
