Images that reflect art

No country on earth is more spiritual than India with its vast Hindu and third largest Islamic population and diverse other religions and spiritual practices. Faith in India goes beyond deep personal beliefs. Religious faith in the subcontinent is expressed openly and publicly on nearly every street.

This spirituality is what has been explored by four artists who have put together a substantial gallery of images in a photo-exhibition titled ‘Eternal Faith’ - exploring its diverse manifestations. The exhibition features works by Kabeer Lal, Ravi Dhingra, Sanjay Nanda and Udit Kulshrestha and is on at IndiPix Gallery, Vasant Vihar.

‘Eternal Faith' is the personal journey of these four - a journey as much inward as outward, to understand the human and its connection with the Holy spirit. The exhibition is not only a display of clicked pictures but unfolds like an artwork – even the ambience in the gallery ... . Each lensman has tried to show their faith in his own way.

Kabeer Lal’s images offer a glimpse of the transcendence, silence and awe that he witnessed while he moved between Har Ki Pauri at Haridwar, ghats of Varanasi and mosques in Old Delhi. Talking about his most eye-catching photograph, ‘Divinity 2’, Lal shares: “This was taken on the eve of Eid, in August 2011 at Jama Masjid. I am trying to show that the divine exists in the everyday and in all of us. Although we go about our average days, the Higher Power has his/her ways of making themselves seen and present.”

The photograph itself has the sun setting behind Jama Masjid - at once a manifestation of the mystique and the divine - in sight of everyone - so majestic and surreal too. “Technically,” says Lal, “this image uses High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and a combination of three photographs shot with varying exposure values - providing richness to the sunset and the sun’s rays.”

On the other hand Ravi's and Sanjay's photographs share similarity in colours, but the commonality ends there. Ravi works with contrasting realities which, interestingly enough, do not conflict, instead bringing out a serenity that reflects inner peace and faith, through colours. A freelance photographer Ravi explains a picture he has titled ‘Breeze’: Breeze was clicked incidentally. Taken in Odisha, I wanted to click a photograph of Tibetan children in a corridor but the moment I was ready to shoot, the school bell rang and corridor became empty. The breeze blew at the same moment and filled the curtain which you see in the picture.” Ravi adds, “My photographs are about colours of faith. The Ganesha image relates to faith associated with even discarded religious objects like broken idols, flowers etc which are not thrown away in dustbin but are put under a tree or in flowing water.”

Sanjay Nanda is a graphic designer by profession but a passionate photographer. Fascinated by religious symbolism - the use of symbols as defined in different religions, is what fascinates him. “It is that, that I seek to capture. For me, the smoke at the temple depicts the faith of the priests,” says Sanjay.

Last but not the least, Udit traces the myriad hues associated with rituals, beliefs and aesthetics of Hindu religion. Like Kabeer, Udit too has been a photographer for 5 years now and, his work explores facets of Hinduism. His ‘Unlighted Diya’ was his best shot. He sees it as “a kaleidoscope. It is waiting to be lit up - with hope.” The work of all four uses interplay of light, textures and colours to create unusual and complex forms seduces the viewer.