Picture Faceless (1)

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Mohan Verma

Born in 1960 in Haryana state, in northern India, Mohan Verma lives and works in Delhi. He took out a degree in photography in 1978 and went professional in 1980. After beginnings in advertising he turned towards the portrait, working in a glamorous style that the neighbourhood studios used as blow-ups to pull in customers. In the 1990s he realised that these photographer customers were cutting out his models' faces and using Photoshop to create "off the peg" bodies: no need any longer for customers to slip into the traditional jackets and ties hanging on the studio wall – now they could have their portraits taken wearing a tee-shirt, then be provided with a perfect body clad in an impeccable suit or a sumptuous sari. This led Mohan to start producing his own images of faceless bodies – whence the title of the series – and setting them against digital backdrops. He then sold these to the studios as thematic CDs: Western-style suits, traditional Indian dress, saris for the ladies, wedding gowns, etc.

In India this separation of head from body is nothing new. In Hindu religious imagery in particular, the avatar tradition leads to all kinds of composite bodies. The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts in Delhi has illustrations from the early twentieth century in which, apart from the subject's face – which is photographed – everything else from the clothes to the set is painted. Initially done with scissors, today's neighbourhood studio photomontages have developed in line with technology and digital retouching systems.
Even more so than the ID photo that is supposed to define its subject, the underlying principle of Mohan's Faceless photographs speaks eloquently about India: the oscillation between indigenous cultures and Western influences, traditional dress and the latest fashion, stock and suggestive poses, etc. As in Indian society as a whole, these identifying features – and the fantasies they embody – coexist, amalgamate and clash.