This article takes John Berger's seminal book on art criticism, Ways of Seeing (1972), as a starting point for looking at the South Asian monsoons from the perspective of wetness. Revisiting Gupta's 2012 work ‘Monsoon Fever’ to think through its watery elements as more closely tied to the visual, sensorial, and affective, it focuses on three distinct representations of the monsoons: photographer Ritesh Uttamchandani's 2014 ‘Facing the Monsoon’ series set in Mumbai, which showcases a range of personalised attitudes towards contending with monsoonal rains as an urban infrastructure; journalist Cynthia Barnett's journey to write the story of the fine art practice of crafting attars in Kannauj, India, wherein the fragrant earthy wetness of the monsoon (considered ‘rain perfume’) is captured in a bottle, and includes synthetic versions; and lastly, a lone photograph by Arko Datto that suggests the sublime monsoon as affect in all its subdued wet colours but also portends climate change for South Asia. Together, these watery readings suggest a renewed attention to ways of seeing the monsoon differently, via the visual, sensorial, and affective.

本文以约翰·伯杰（John Berger）关于艺术批评的开创性著作《眼见的方式》（Ways of Seeing，1972）为起点，从湿润的角度审视南亚季风。回顾古普塔（Gupta）2012年的作品“季风热”，以其水上元素与视觉，感官和情感的联系更为紧密，重点关注季风的三种不同表现形式：摄影师里特什·乌塔姆汉达尼（Ritesh Uttamchandani）的2014年“面对季风”系列，设置在孟买，展现出各种个性化的态度来应对季风性降雨作为城市基础设施；记者辛西娅·巴内特（Cynthia Barnett）的旅程，讲述了手工制作阿塔尔人的美术实践的故事在印度的卡瑙伊，其中季风的芬芳的泥土湿度（被认为是“雨水香水”）被捕获在一个瓶子中，并且包括合成的版本；最后，一张由Arko Datto拍摄的孤独照片暗示，崇高的季风对所有柔和的潮湿色彩都有影响，但也预示了南亚的气候变化。总之，这些水汪汪的读物暗示着人们应重新关注通过视觉，感觉和情感来不同地看待季风的方式。