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Ooh for the usual

PHOTO: K. GOPINATHAN

Order in the ordinary Mallikarjun finds beauty in the design sense

Mallikarjun Katakol’s eye-catching photos titled “The Aesthetics of Display” are simply shot. The photographer has gone to different markets in the city and has captured in colour, the different items displayed.

So from fruits, vegetables, meat, vessels and knives to undergarments, buckets, mugs, spices, locks and footwear, Mallikarjun has worked on a subject that has been dealt with previously but with a difference.

The bazaar becomes an alluring space, where the shopkeepers have perfected and evolved their own advertising strategies.

Unlike well-packaged goods safely tucked in air-conditioned malls, the goods displayed in bazaars are well within reach. Says Mallikarjun, “The shopkeeper uses his creativity and aesthetic sense to make the products more accessible.”

He has shot in K.R. Market, Johnson and Russell Market and Madivala. “I would go on certain days and times when products would be displayed for a particular reason. The shopkeeper works on the sensory organs — so the customers can touch, smell and even taste.” So from the locks arranged in different sizes to the meats arranged in symmetrical order, Mallikarjun finds beauty in their design sense, passed down for generations. “When I ask them about their aesthetic, they nonchalantly mention this is how they have been doing it for years and so have their ancestors.”

He finds that unlike bigger shops, which use props to bring attention to the products, drama is created in the arrangement of the products themselves. “A product becomes more interesting when arranged with others.”

Advertising photographer Mallikarajun says he looked at the products and shot them through the eyes of the common man, making the shots straightforward and the products, arresting.

The exhibition is on till April 25 (closed today) at the Max Mueller Bhavan, No. 716 CMH Road, Indiranagar 1st Stage. Call 25205305.

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