Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
Still the sacred
|
An ongoing photo exhibition explores the essence of faith
|
The spirit The works of photographers Dinesh Khanna and Prashant Panjiar.
Through different treatments they achieve the same goal. Dinesh Khanna and Prashant Panjiar show that religion is not rituals, but individual acts of faith, in their ongoing photography exhibition – Tirtha. Mounted, with ample breathing space,
at Palette Art Gallery, the works complement each other. While Khanna’s photos are in strong colour, Panjiar’s photos are in stark black and white. Khanna isolates moments whereas Panjiar pans phenomena.
In vivid colours, Khanna locates religious individuals and icons.
Exploration
Through his work he tries to discover the strength and hold of religion. Having already completed the book “Living Faith”, he continues to be fascinated by the individuals that make up religious crowds. He explains, “I have lots of faith in peoples’ faith. I find that peoples’ faith is larger than themselves.”
In an archival pigment print, he makes the prosaic seem poetic. Even a simple rack of traditional wooden chappals (paduka) becomes like a still from a Satyajit Ray movie.
“Contemplation” is a beautiful photograph. A lady sits hunched with head resting on her folded hands. In this single shot, he shows how faith is reached in solitude and the strength it endows. With an eye for composition and a sense of the dramatic, he creates neat and clean photographs. His focus is obvious and nothing distracts from his concern.
Panjiar’s works on the other hand are vast panoramas of this year’s Kumbh Mela. A photojournalist by profession for over 20 years, he says he has seen too much hatred in the name of religion.
This “non-believer” says, “At the Kumbh, everything is on a large scale. But every person has his own communion with the river, with their own belief. That is what I have learnt.”
Black and White
Working usually with colour, he chose to work in black and white here. Shooting panoramas, he elaborates, “I had to be careful with the edges. I have to regard the image for a longer while. Also, with black and white, I tend to fall back on an older way of looking at things.”
In his large canvases, the thronging essence of the Kumbh Mela is rendered with peace. But he also identifies the faces in the crowd.
He catches a Naga baba in meditation and transgendered people in attendance. He shoots women lighting diyas, while fighting the cold winter night.
The works of these two photographers provide an interesting counterpoint to each other. But finally, as Panjiar says, “This is now called the ‘Other India’. But this is the Real India.”
The exhibition runs till Thursday.
NANDINI NAIR
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
