It starts with a smile: A photographer travels through India, attempting to challenge stereotypes

In 2013, photographer Jay Weinstein wanted to photograph a man in Bikaner whose face he found extremely interesting. Hesitant to approach him, Weinstein turned his attention to others, but as he was leaving, the man said to him – “Mera bhi toh photo lo na?” Take my photo also, won’t you?

“He smiled, and he transformed in front of my eyes,” Weinstein said. “He suddenly seemed friendly and affable and approachable. In that minute, it became clear to me that this was an interesting idea.”

Four years later, his exhibition So I asked them to smile is on display at Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery and comprises of 30 pairs of images shot all over India, each exploring two contrasting expressions on a single person’s face. In the first, they are somber and contemplative and in the second, they have broken into a wide grin.

On the surface, each pair of images illustrates how a simple smile has the potential to seemingly transform a person from distant and unapproachable, to friendly. And yet, the project is about much more than the universal and instinctive appeal of a smile. It also teaches the audience to question how they make many judgements about people, based on a single – and often fleeting – moment.

More than just a smile

“We always make assumptions about people so that we can gauge if someone could be a threat to us,” said Weinstein. “But the problem for me is, when we begin to assume that those assumptions are necessarily accurate, and then we act on it. I am making a set of assumptions about this human being based on this one image that I see. But both those versions are true [the smiling and the unsmiling images], and neither is completely true.”

Since Weinstein doesn’t reveal the name, religion, race or ethnicity of the people he photographs, the images further encourage the viewer to examine the judgements that they tend to make about people at first glance. With So I asked them to smile, Weinstein aims to remove the several identifiers that people attach to themselves and examine how people’s identities are shaped and understood through their faces and attires. This decision is perhaps a natural extension of Weinstein’s own cultural identity: he’s an American-Australian who grew up in India and speaks Hindi fluently. “It is absolutely beautiful to see these people of different ages, genders, nationalities and religions meet in one space as equals,” he said. “That is the ultimate goal.”

The project also offers many interpretations of beauty. “As a young photographer, I am ultimately looking for beauty, and that normally begins with conventional beauty. But as I evolved with this project, I have a deeper acceptance unconventional beauty and a need to celebrate it.”

The project’s journey

With almost 4 lakh followers on Facebook, So I asked them to smile is already a popular project online. With the exhibit at Jehangir, though, it is the first time that it has transcended social media to enter into the physical realm. “I felt like I needed to de-technologise this project,” Weinstein said. “I know it is much more powerful when people see it in person, and spend more than a quarter of a second before they hit like.”

The photographer, who considers himself both an insider and an outsider in the Indian cultural ethos, said that he doesn’t worry too much about exoticising the country when he turns his lens on its people. “My problem starts when people pretend that a piece of India is the entirety of it. Representations are all right as long they are not pretending to depict the entirety of the Indian experience. I always say that this is the India that I find interesting, but it’s not the whole of the country.”

Apart from India, Weinstein has travelled to China, Kenya, Australia and Nepal with his project. He hopes to visit Pakistan next, because So I asked them to smile first gained attention and acceptance from that country – “I spent a lot of time thinking about why Pakistanis would be happy seeing pictures of Indians, because people from both countries are told such terrible things about each other. But then I realised that perhaps they never see humanised pictures of Indians, and that’s what attracted them. Because I live in India, and I don’t see humanised pictures of a Pakistani.”

Changing assumptions

Despite the nature of the project, the photographer says that he is terrified to talk to strangers. When he walks up to a person to photograph them, Weinstein tells them about the project and asks them if they wish to be a part of it. He also often offers to show his subjects the images that he clicks. “It’s becoming apparent to me that in chasing the outcome of great art, we sometimes forget that it’s a human being on the other side. It’s easy to become lost in the idea that the outcome is more important, and do whatever it takes to craft an image that will define me and change the world. For me, a great image can be more if the subject and the viewer both feel a part of it.”

Consequently, Weinstein is hesitant to attach a single message to his images, and hopes to encourage his audience to create their own meaning from his project. “I would just love for people to spend a little time with these images, observe their assumptions, and change with the smile.”

All images are by Jay Weinstein.