Pictures in perspective
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Mati Ghar gallery in New Delhi opens up new vistas on Jammu and Kashmir through a photo exhibition, says RANA SIDDIQUI.
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Photograph displayed at the exhibition A Passage In Time now on view in New Delhi.
THE HUMAN bond, the political correctness, the nostalgic memories, the religious fervour, the war and the surrender, the historic moments, the science in progress, the scenic beauty, all these and more form an integral part of A Passage In Time, a photo exhibition on Jammu and Kashmir mounted at Mati Ghar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Art, New Delhi. The exhibition, curated by Gayatri Sinha is historically significant for two reasons. This is the first time the Government of India has invited an art critic and independent curator to curate the exhibition, and secondly, the exhibition contains rare archival pictures of J&K sourced not only from the Press Information Bureau's photo division but also from the collection of the Associated Press that the curator was left free to select from.
Inaugurated by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and organised by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, the exhibition is an attempt to not only "bring alive the State's pristine beauty that was and still is, but also documenting the life of the people at work, not to forget the historic moments the State has witnessed from 1936 to 2005," says Gayatri Sinha.
Hence, if on one side you have the bank of the Jhehlum, the road from Srinagar to Rawalpindi, the historic speech of Sheikh Abdullah declaring "Kashmir Hamara Hai", on the other, you might find a sadhu feeding an infant monkey from a milk bottle on the way to the Amarnath caves, the locals walking on fallen chinar leaves in a breathtakingly beautiful Nishat garden, and even the Amul milk plant at Hazrat Bal. And there is evidence of a tragedy no words can do justice to, like the body of a child who batted a grenade mistaking it for a ball.
Media document
"The exhibition is a media document which is not merely a statement in pictorial beauty but also reveals how a State chooses to represent itself. I did not want it to be a didactic exhibition. So it is an attempt to document ordinary people and their lives, children who witnessed history unfolding before them," says Gayatri.
The curator who also included pictures that represent a "sense of loss" in the disturbed State also documents through this exhibition how "systems of communication have changed over the years".
"We must acknowledge the generous support of PIB and AP, which were ready to show pictures that were subjects of controversy and thus broke the wall between the common people and otherwise inaccessible historic pictures," she says.
Such an initiative holds out hope for such many events to come. But ask Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed why there are almost no art galleries in J&K despite the region being so rich in art and craft, he mumbles, "We will do something... ".
The exhibition is on view till March 4.
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