JOIN USAmateurs capture India's diversity
This one is for all the photography enthusiasts who want to participate in the incredible journey of young photographers of Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication (SACAC).
The college’s photography department has organised ‘Graduate Photography Exhibition’ at the college.
The exhibition is a result of the hardwork put in by the students of Photography Deptt, batch 2011-12. Not just that, it was inaugurated recently by the eminent photographer Tarun Khiwal, who also gave a talk on the occasion.
The photographs, culled from students’ projects, done through the academic year brings into prominence locales locales within and outside Delhi. The students have travelled far and wide throughout India - from Jodhpur, Rajasthan to Lahaul and Spiti in Ladakh to Puducherry and Nepal as well, to capture the culture and dynamics of people’s lives.
Shikha Mahipal, who is one of the 12 students exhibiting their photographs, says her conceptual works are based on Arana, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘depth’. According to Shikha, her work reflects human desire and the journey of life and death. “We as humans have so many desires. Some get fulfilled while others remain unfulfilled until death. That is why the egg used in my pictures signifies birth and simultaneously death - as an egg also denotes that the evolution of the individual did not take place, hence leaving a lot of desires unfulfilled.”
The exhibition has several amazing pictures detailing various places. Another photographer exhibiting his creations where North meets South is Chandan Khanna whose photographs display the real essence of both Puducherry and Paharganj. “I wanted my pictures to capture the smell of Puducherry, its architecture and its beauty.
So, in one of my pictures I have shown a vintage car which is characteristic of Puducherry and surrounding it are all the tools needed to repair a car, showing the characteristic nature of India.”
Capturing the real flavour of India and talking about problems faced by its people is Yogesh Arora, whose pictures show the story of migrants from Pakistan living in Rajasthan. “In India we don’t acknowledge migrants. They don’t have any citizenship rights and their children don’t go to schools.
I have shot dalit Pakistani migrants who left their country due to various problems they were facing like child marriage, forcible conversions and not being allowed to worship a religion of their choice etc. They are nearly 350 migrants living under the care of an NGO on the outskirts of Jodhpur who I have photographed,” says Yogesh.
An exhibition is incomplete without the mention of Delhi, its life and people. Showing the ‘famous’ nightlife of Delhi and and an old age home near Badarpur is Tarun Modi. “My idea is to experiment with all forms of photography. That is why I chose two distinct topics – old age homes and Delhi’s nightlife highlighting the old and young and their respective lives.”