Vision in frames and paint

The conversation starts with kabaddi and hockey he played during childhood in Punjab's Bareta town where he was born. It then shifts to Ramlila, where he played both Ram and Laxman. He seldom mixed up lines.

In between his ambitious plans for Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi(PLKA), which he is now heading as its President, Chandigarh-based conceptual photographer Diwan Manna also curses that not many shops in Chandigarh can boast of good-quality samosas. This 59-year-old, who passed out in 1982 after completing his five-year diploma in painting from Government College of Art in Chandigarh wanted to take up cinematography after religiously watching world cinema. "And that is how photography happened," he says.

Manna, who is credited for devising a new ethos by looking at the world through a combination of film and paint, is excited about the International Photography Competition on Partition he is set to organise this year. Not to be restricted to geographical divides in 1947 and 1971 in the sub-continent, the participating photographers will look at the emotional fractures from across the world. "I don't need to elaborate that it's never a physical divide-be it India, Bosnia, Czechoslovakia. This competition will be one of the most prestigious and elaborate. Several major photographers across the world are showing interest. I can't name them because their written confirmation is yet to come in. Seminars, discussions and film screenings will be part of the event, which will travel across the country." Talk to him about the fact that most art is restricted to Chandigarh and Punjab seldom gets to see any contemporary work being done across the country, and Manna says that he plans to change precisely that."We have already held two major exhibitions in Jalandhar and Amritsar ever since I joined PLKA. More will follow. Besides, we plan to invite a major Indian artist of international repute to present his work in Chandigarh every month."

Manna, who is credited with bringing to city the biggest names in art including Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Sudarshan Shetty, Akbar Padamsee, Krishen Khanna, Anjlolie Ela Menon, Raghu Rai, Muzaffar Ali, Mithu Sen and Dayanita Singh during his tenure as Chairman of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi (2008-2015), may be happy that the Akademi is still exactly following all the templates devised by him and enjoys the Rs 80 lakhs a year grant which he ascertained, but the fact that now only local artists are consistently repeated does sadden him.

"It is important that institutions are taken to the next level. You can't just allow its standard to fall only because you want please every second person you bump into. The city's audience should get access to the best in the art world-that was my only priority, a major reason why the biggest names in art seldom refused my invitation," says the artist.