Based On A True Story...: Souvid Datta- You Da Bomb!!!

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Souvid Datta- You Da Bomb!!!

Photo: Souvid Datta via Mary Ellen Mark

All due credit where credit is due- Souvid Datta has got the biggest set in all Mumbai! Make no doubt- this guy is YUGE! We're not talking simple, petty Steve McCurry clone and delete here- we're talking major, I'm in it for the gusto, criminal master mind duplicity writ MFing large deluxe...

This guy wasn't... lemme see if I can possibly get away with this, uh-uh, this was pure- I piss in your face: judges, editors, photo gods and public alike! He could have easily heisted a figure from some anonymous snapshot- but again, masterminds make master statements. And you know he was wearing one major shit eating grin the whole time he was cuttin' and a pastin'!

He had so much integrity and respect for his chosen profession and award winning career- you just know how much sincerity and compassion he had for the subject matter at hand. The beauty in any of this was that he was caught not by the elite lords and guardians of photodom, but by someone (social worker Shreya Bhat) who wasn't pretending to be doing something for the subjects and survivors he depicted, and pretended to champion.

With huevos that big, I wouldn't be surprised if we're in store for Part II, where he sincerely apologizes that in his zeal, he somehow, mistakenly sought to honor the memory and dedication of Mary Ellen Mark by channeling her very essence directly into his essay...

5 comments:

UnknownMay 4, 2017 at 6:51 PM
One thing about this photo essay is that it includes and was promoted by photos of underaged girls having sex or more accurately underaged girls being raped. This a photog who is exploitative and cruel.
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UnknownMay 4, 2017 at 6:54 PM
Should have said that Duckrabbit has been reporting on that aspect really well. I think the photoshop shows dishonesty but this whole project seems to have been badly conceived and executed in an exploitative way.
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Stan B.May 4, 2017 at 8:41 PM
Absolutely! Fortunately, PP (who has a considerably larger following than moi) reported on Duckrabbit's original (and very legit) qualms, which is now just one of several chapters...

https://www.duckrabbit.info/2017/04/lensculture-commodification-rape/
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lstevensonMay 5, 2017 at 8:26 AM
Did you get a chance to read his explanation / apology article in Time?

http://time.com/4766312/souvid-datta/
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Stan B.May 5, 2017 at 9:16 AM
Thanks for the link. I've read The Reader's Digest version, so I got the gist, but am looking forward to some in depth, lighthearted weekend reading.
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