By Alim Hosein
Arts On Sunday this week presents a study on the art of photography in Guyana by Alim Hosein, Coordinator of the Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition, linguist, artist, literary and art critic, and English lecturer at the University of Guyana.
Painting is what comes to mind when most Guyanese think about art. Sculpture comes in at number two. Photography, however, is not usually seen as art. This might be because it is so familiar, seems so easy to do, and appears merely mechanical. The cell-phone age has also made taking photographs as easy as thinking about it, unlike the long hours and craftsmanship needed for painting, sculpture, ceramics and so on. Photographs or pictures are now ephemeral, throw-away things – because of the ease with which we can create them, we take thousands of them and equally discard or lose thousands of them.