Giving light a direction

Art has the innate ability to engage, mesmerise and transform individuals.And, through the most effective means of communication, artists often explore diversity in various media.However, photography — the art of capturing moments in life — has always been a passion for Piyush Goswami who graduated as a mechanical engineer from National Institute of Technology Karnataka in 2008.At an exhibition held recently at Alliance Francaise, Goswami sought symmetry, simplicity and emotions in his photographs. City Express catches up with the extechie to find out more about his interests and passion for art.Tell us about yourself.Though I have been in Bangalore since 1996, my roots lie in Uttar Pradesh. After working with an MNC here for almost two years I realised that I didn’t belong in the corporate world. I couldn’t find a soul in that mechanical way of life, and after a lot of self thought I decided to dedicate my life to art and philosophy. I had no plans of taking up photography till a few years ago.Soon, I bought my very first camera and started shooting.What are you trying to achieve in your life through art and philosophy?An age old question that has puzzled humanity is why are we here? and I think that question can only be answered once we understand who we are as human beings to begin with. And a sincere thought tells us that at the most fundamental level human beings are nothing but the universe itself. The universe over 15 odd billion years has evolved itself to a point where it is trying to understand itself through human curiosity and expression.And I believe that three pillars of humanity or the human evolution are art, philosophy and science. I wish to let the evolution of the universe and humanity flow through me as freely as it can; and express this process of self-evolution through art, and philosophy and hopefully in the process make an honest living.Tell us about your documentary, 'The Root Problem'.It is a small independent project that I have been working on for almost a year now, and it is very close to completion. It is strictly a non-profit project aimed at bringing about social awareness. The title The Root Problem in my opinion is self-explanatory as far as what I am trying to highlight through this work is concerned.In simple words I am trying to show how our current social paradigm is flawed at the most fundamental level of individual and social existence, and to show that we all as individuals are contributing to what the world is today. And, only a change at the most fundamental level can fix the problems of humanity. Anything short of this would only be a temporary fix and the problems of society will continue as long as humanity does.In a way it is like taking what society had to offer me, and this documentary is what I have to give back to the society at this moment.Being a universal language that speaks very strongly against demarcations in terms of race, caste, creed and culture, do you think art instills a sense of hope in mankind or do you think it opens a whole new dimension of escapism?We have to understand that escapism is a selfish tendency that exists independently of the different modes that have been created to help people escape. Because we wanted to escape the harsh reality of the world we have created ourselves, we created different modes of escapism. And for a person who is looking for ways to escape, there is escapism everywhere. You can use anything to escape — a book, a movie, social gatherings, television. And till we choose to run away from and escape our problems and reality rather than face them, there is no hope for mankind with or without art. But I also think that our world can always use more artists than it already has. Art is an effective way of reaching people all around the world, as it appeals to people’s senses in a very honest way.It appeals to them at a level which thankfully is still untouched by the external boundaries we have created to separate one from another. Also, on a second thought escapism in itself is not bad, because there can be something I would term constructive escapism.It is the excessive reliance on escapism in our society to run away from our reality and our problems that is a concern.Constructive escapism is where one learns something, which is very different from the common place indulgence in an activity for the simple purpose of escaping one’s problems which is what art has boiled down to in the main stream.Until very recently I felt that I had an artist in me and I had a thinker in me; two very unique entities. And while the thinker in me always wanted more clarity on matters of life, the artist sort of looked for inspiration in the vague mysteries of life.Friedrich Nietzsche said and I am paraphrasing that artist makes the truth more bearable by covering it up in his prejudices and impure thinking. While I find this to be true, I feel that art and truth can go hand in hand and in this case the art becomes expression of truth.An artist can be fully dedicated to pursuing the truth and expressing through his art and that’s what I am trying to do. In fact what Nietzsche said is a perfect example of this. Writing is a form of art and he has used that to express the truth.For further details about the photographer visit www.piyushgoswami.in