Australian artist Terry Burrows’ The Banaras Back Book is a visual essay with 1,008 pictures of people and activities on the ghats of Varanasi. He tells Divya Kaushik why he only focusses on torsos, shapes and forms
From Shivalings to temple structures and human bodies, everything appears like a mere silhouette on his canvas. The identity of objects and figures is deliberately left to the imagination of the viewer. Australian artist Terry Burrows is known for his semi-abstract works. He says that rather than finding the subject for his works, he looks forward to objects that he later imagines in different ways and comes up with interesting imageries in his studio. The artist since last few years has been busy with a project on Varanasi. He first visited the place in 2005, “and at that time I wanted to explore Shivalings, since they have been a part of my semi-abstract works since long. I am fascinated by the variety you find in India. It is worshipped in different styles. I also wanted to capture Hindu shrines. My purpose was not to gain knowledge on religion or Hindu practices, I was just interested in the variety.” But when he visited Varanasi he was intrigued more by the activities on the ghats. He started taking pictures so that he could return to his studio, use those photos as a reference and create something unique.
Terry has now come up with The Banaras Back Book. “It is an intriguing visual essay of people clandestinely photographed from behind, sitting or squatting along the ghats of Varanasi. The images were taken during a five-month residency that I completed at the Kriti gallery. I clicked over 4,000 pictures and out of that I selected 1,008 pictures as 1,008 is an auspicious number in Hindu mythology,” shared the artist. The large photographic prints have been selected from the series of photographs that feature in the book, for an ongoing exhibition at the lalit Kala Akademi.
While working on the book, he did some key projects, all around the ghats of Varanasi. He says he was interested in the activities of the people on the ghats, rather than capturing the obvious. He captured their backs and then came up with contemporary artwork. Ghat by Ghat is a series of paintings which was exhibited at the Kriti Art Gallery in Varanasi and the Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Kolkata. Ganga Dancing is a video work which featured at Parramasala, an international festival celebrating the global reach of South East Asian arts and cultures in Parramatta, NSW, Australia.
The artist says that there has been less contemporary work on Varanasi and most of the works have either been portraits or show the scene as it is. “But that was not my motive, I was looking beyond the visible. I wanted to create something unique,” he said.
The book is a limited edition publication and after its launch in Delhi, the artist is looking forward to take the book to other cities as well. His next series of work is titled Agent Orange is on lord Hanuman. “I was intrigued by the way various forms are created with sindoor and I have also collected sindoor from Sankatmochan temple to use it in my works,” he informed.
Apart from Varanasi, the artist says he is interested in visiting Chambal and would want to go to Madurai and Gokarana in Karnataka, “since I have heard a lot about the Hindu shrines there.”