A walkthrough of the exhibition Off the Record: Meditations on the Photographic Image with three artists was recently organised at the Vadehra Art Gallery, curated by Vidya Sivadas. It was a visual treat which also explored the relationship between photography and paintings. By Rupinder Kaur
One enters and the eerie sound fills up the room. On one side of the grey wall, you see the figure of the artist with his head bowed as if expressing a sense of shame or regret in 12 different frames shot at various locations which are associated with water bodies in Delhi. This series, looking for Dvaipayana, by artist Atul Bhalla laments the forgotten water bodies, most of which are now covered by concrete.
“They are all locations within the city like Khari Baoli, Janta Piau, Panchkuian Road, et al. where you would find water bodies or may be now they are not there. For example, there is the Chappar Wala Kuh in Karol Bagh. It is reminiscent of the time when people came to Delhi after Independence and settled around Jor Bagh and Patel Nagar. All the directions were given from Chappar Wala Kuh but now, it is all covered with concrete though people still remember it,” said Bhalla, who has worked with environmental issues for more then two decades, shared.
He went on to further elaborate about the the lal Kuan which “has a political history.” “Beyond lal Kuan, the Muslim area starts and the other side is the Hindu-dominated area. In 1970s, the clashes between the two communities took place in Ballimaran and lal Kuan. Outside lal Kuan, there is a police post which says Aman Committee and most people might not remember about it. lal Kuan was also where people would get the water from,” he further added.
Most of the pictures are from Old Delhi and the artist calls it is a “continuing project.” “There is sort of a mourning with my work as well. It is mourning the landscape, the rivers and the piau which the city has forgotten,”he said.
On the opposite wall, sit frames of veteran artist Krishen Khanna’s iconic crow series called The Crows Around My Studio and a large nine-foot photomontage panel of his ambitious project called Iron Ore Mines, Bailadila (in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh). Public sector undertaking MMTC, Government of India had invited him in 1960s along with photographer Madan Mahatta and Som Benegal to visit the site. Khanna then worked with 400 slides that Mahatta took and projected them on various services using projectors and photographing the result. It was exhibited at Expo Osaka in 1970.
We soon entered a dark hall with a device called Magic lantern placed in the middle. The device projects images and was used for educational and entertainment purposes during the Victorian period. This was artist Susanta Mandal’s installation called Naukar ki Kameez.
Babu Eshwar Prasad’s Counterfeit digital collage placed together various elements of industrial landscapes.
“I’m more interested in landscape and documenting it in a very different way. I’m also interested in how a still image can be moved. I’ve used still images to also create a video,” he told us as a video of images of mining sites in Karnataka and smoke billowing from factory chimneys plays on a screen along with other industrial elements. On a canvas is an arch monument, against a dull blue sky, made of industrial junk which he clicked at various locations and placed together using Photoshop.
A floor above had the an untitled series by Showkat Kathjoo, who teaches at the Srinagar Institute of Music and Fine Arts. For 25 days, in September 2014, the school was submerged following the deluge that hit the Valley. He did a three-hour performance in the library where the books were covered with fungus. The exhibit also featured works of MF Hussain, where his photo series Culture of the Street was showcased along with Anju Dodiya, Juul Kraijer, and Charmi Gada Shah.