<p>On a rainy day Saba Hasan walked down to the water reservoir in Hauz Khas village near her house.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Lost in the sound of the droplets merging with the water in the lake, she approached a tree half submerged in this reservoir and nearly slipped in the mud on the embankment. <br /><br />“I almost fell into the water to get this shot,” Hasan recalls drawing Metrolife’s appreciation for the brilliance in the frame composition that makes it difficult to categorise her work as a photograph.<br /><br />The mystery continues in other works by Ravi Dhingra, Nin Taneja and Puja Bahri too as they decipher the word ‘Enigma’ (also the name of the exhibition).<br /><br />The group photography exhibition sees the four artists present their definition of ‘enigma’ through different subjects. <br /><br />While Puja Bahri heightens the curiosity by clicking the ascetics performing mysterious rites, Ravi Dhingra chooses the ‘veil’ to express the same.<br /><br />In one of the photographs captured by Dhingra, a man walks on top of a translucent pink shamiana set up for a wedding. <br /><br />“I didn’t go to cover the wedding. I had been commissioned by the wedding planner to document their work for a coffee table book and happened to take this shot of a man who had climbed up to repair something,” says Dhingra.<br /><br />The sole male photographer explores ‘enigma’ through opaque and transparent veils.<br /><br />In a photograph capturing dancers in a swirl, Dhingra plays with two colours red and black as he shoots the Odissi dancer Kiran Sehgal in a fusion performance.<br /><br />His other works also use the technique of photomontage such as the one where a girl’s face is applied with make-up behind a screen. <br /><br />“Make up is also a veil for we transform the face by covering it with a cosmetic layer,” he adds. <br /> Nin Taneja on the other hand developed her art of capturing birds in a distinct style.<br /><br />She shoots the drongo bird in the complex of the Golden Temple.<br /><br />In the process, she captures the temple architecture from a never-before-seen angle. <br /><br />“I saw the drongo go to the sarovar, catch a fish and come back to the tree to eat its prey. After seeing the whole drama for quite some time, I photographed these birds on the tree and the temple also became a part of the frame,” says Taneja.<br /><br />While the narrative behind these shots unravel the enigma created by the final artworks, it is significant to mention that Hasan doesn’t “look for a narrative but for a mood”. <br /><br />Her photographs can therefore be mistaken as her canvases with abstract colours brightening the white sheets or films.<br /><br />The exhibition is on display at Arpana Caur Academy of Fine Arts & Literature, Siri Fort till November 16. <br /></p>
<p>On a rainy day Saba Hasan walked down to the water reservoir in Hauz Khas village near her house.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Lost in the sound of the droplets merging with the water in the lake, she approached a tree half submerged in this reservoir and nearly slipped in the mud on the embankment. <br /><br />“I almost fell into the water to get this shot,” Hasan recalls drawing Metrolife’s appreciation for the brilliance in the frame composition that makes it difficult to categorise her work as a photograph.<br /><br />The mystery continues in other works by Ravi Dhingra, Nin Taneja and Puja Bahri too as they decipher the word ‘Enigma’ (also the name of the exhibition).<br /><br />The group photography exhibition sees the four artists present their definition of ‘enigma’ through different subjects. <br /><br />While Puja Bahri heightens the curiosity by clicking the ascetics performing mysterious rites, Ravi Dhingra chooses the ‘veil’ to express the same.<br /><br />In one of the photographs captured by Dhingra, a man walks on top of a translucent pink shamiana set up for a wedding. <br /><br />“I didn’t go to cover the wedding. I had been commissioned by the wedding planner to document their work for a coffee table book and happened to take this shot of a man who had climbed up to repair something,” says Dhingra.<br /><br />The sole male photographer explores ‘enigma’ through opaque and transparent veils.<br /><br />In a photograph capturing dancers in a swirl, Dhingra plays with two colours red and black as he shoots the Odissi dancer Kiran Sehgal in a fusion performance.<br /><br />His other works also use the technique of photomontage such as the one where a girl’s face is applied with make-up behind a screen. <br /><br />“Make up is also a veil for we transform the face by covering it with a cosmetic layer,” he adds. <br /> Nin Taneja on the other hand developed her art of capturing birds in a distinct style.<br /><br />She shoots the drongo bird in the complex of the Golden Temple.<br /><br />In the process, she captures the temple architecture from a never-before-seen angle. <br /><br />“I saw the drongo go to the sarovar, catch a fish and come back to the tree to eat its prey. After seeing the whole drama for quite some time, I photographed these birds on the tree and the temple also became a part of the frame,” says Taneja.<br /><br />While the narrative behind these shots unravel the enigma created by the final artworks, it is significant to mention that Hasan doesn’t “look for a narrative but for a mood”. <br /><br />Her photographs can therefore be mistaken as her canvases with abstract colours brightening the white sheets or films.<br /><br />The exhibition is on display at Arpana Caur Academy of Fine Arts & Literature, Siri Fort till November 16. <br /></p>
