Exploring intertwined history of humans and plants in frames

Photography exhibition

Spring has arrived in the capital and flowers will be in full bloom at the Jor Bagh metro station when a three-panel exhibition ‘The Garden Underground’ will be mounted from March 21.

This exhibit is a part of Habitat Photosphere, the year-long photography festival initiated by India Habitat Centre where British photographer Tony Clancy, along with two Indian photographers will present a refreshing view on plants and their role in cross-cultural relationships.

Seen through the prism of photography, this exhibition will be a starting point to understand how gardens reflect different cultural backgrounds, both English and
Indian. Environmental photographer Arati Kumar-Rao explores the unique desert garden around the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, where invasive species have been cleared, and the 70 hectare original garden restored. Travel photographer Juhi Saklani looks at the workers whose often hidden labour and wealth of knowledge and experience actually make the gardens that we enjoy. Clancy’s images celebrate both the exuberant spectacle of flowers in full bloom and more contemplative moments of transience.

Clancy, who is also the curator of the exhibition, says “We wanted to bring a sense of the pleasure of gardens to the underground station. People are usually in a hurry and distracted by so many thoughts and concerns when travelling round a city.”

“We wanted to make an oasis of sorts. The station itself was always where we wanted this work to be. We wanted to find some new ways of looking at, and thinking about gardens. We all see gardens a lot, most people enjoy them, but we wanted to look again at their rich history, and what they mean to the environment and those who work in them,” he tells Metrolife.

Apart from the exhibition, there will also be a workshop and talk focussing on garden on March 19 and 20. This workshop will look at examples of extracts from short essays that will bring fresh insight into photographs.

“We will discuss the exhibition itself but also the work of some photographers who have made interesting and very different images of plants. We will also talk about a few ways to think about writing about both gardens and photographs, and end with a photographic walk,” he tells Metrolife.

Clancy also feels that gardens transform environments for better and for worse, and hopes that pictures open up a dialogue between the East and the West. “In India as in Britain, there are different cultures of gardening depending on whether you own a garden, walk through parks, or work there. It is the gardeners who have the most detailed knowledge of plants and understand how to make a garden.”

“Most of us — in both countries I think — enjoy them as a spectacle and a connection to the living environment.  Our intertwined histories have brought about many convergences, but I am looking forward to talking to people and finding out more about what is unique to the Indian garden,” he adds saying that exhibition feels like a starting point, not an answer, to the question of how we regard gardening through our
cultures.