JOIN USAn exhibition of photographs by Sebastian Cortés provides viewers with a rare insight into the lives of the Bohra Islamic community of Sidhpur in Gujarat.
Organised by Tasveer in partnership with Vacheron Constantin, the photographs on display are part of unexhibited series of photographs exploring the traditional habitats and domestic spaces of the Bohra Muslims of Gujarat.
According to the organisers the exhibition, title Sidhpur: Time Present Time Past, is the first in-depth photographic exploration of the Bohra community.
Cortés took up photography in 1980 while at the New York University film school, where he studied and collaborated with many of the best names in the industry, earning international recognition as a fashion and lifestyle photographer. However Cortés, after travelling to India focused on uncovering the unique inner landscape of societies and cultures, the evocative, simpler realities created within the bubble of imposed cultural stereotypes.
“Despite consciously distancing himself from what he sees, and recording objectively, without any pre-conceived notions of his subject, Cortés’ images accentuate photography’s ability to capture, visually interpret and expose the inherent nature contained within places, seemingly mundane domestic environments and architecture,” the organisers told Metrolife.
In Sidhpur Cortés discovered an abandoned, little-known town with a rich heritage and a distinctive vernacular architecture. According to him, aesthetic curiosity led him to photograph the domestic spaces of an elusive and veiled Islamic community, the Bohras whose complex cultural make-up is reflected in their unique architecture, an amalgamation of Hindu, Islamic, Persian, European and Colonial styles.
The word Bohra itself comes from the Gujarati word ‘vehru’ meaning trade. This is in reference to their traditional profession which to date is business. The community has further sub-sects and among the prominent ones are the Dawoodi Bohra who trace their belief system back to Yemen, where it evolved from the Fatimid Caliphate. The Sunni Bohra community found in the province of Sindh in Pakistan shares a large number of cultural similarities with the Dawoodi Bohras of India.
“Haunting and dream-like these images often challenge the veracity of photographs, capturing the residual memories, history and fragments of life that linger in the facades of buildings, empty rooms, windows, stairways, and the other intricate, distinguishing architectural features of Bohra dwellings,” the organisers said.
“Cortés creates an ambiguous reality where past and present blur and merge, and where the physical environment becomes a cultural artefact, that penetrates through the walls exposing the inner realm of this otherwise concealed community,” the organiser added.