JOIN USStanding in front of a breathtaking visual vignette of Kashmir, photographer Shabir Hussain Santosh says, “When I look at a frame or visualise one, I relate all my past, present and future states in that frame and Kashmir is one such frame for me. But the Valley in the present day is not the Kashmir I know. It is a mystical place, and for someone like me who hails from there, it is painful to see what is currently happening there.”
Adding, he says that Kashmir always has a stimulating effect on his mind to the extent that it “elevates my soul, and the awareness of the soul, I feel, is the fourth
dimension”.
While for him the term “fourth dimension” means so, for photographer Sanjay Das, it signifies “a moment of eternity, infinity, freedom and stillness, wrapped in the eternal mystique of time”; for Amit Sharma “it denotes passage of time, frozen in a moment by light and shadow”. And giving these thoughts a visual expression, they, along with Idris Ahmed, have come together for a photography group show titled ‘Fourth Dimension’, which is currently on display in the city.
The exhibit, which brings together works of the four photographers, explores the significance of the flow of time through the stillness of their images.
“My featured works, essentially my travel photographs from a series called
‘Individuality’, are mainly portraits which are critically timed. I feel these images, clicked over a period of almost 10 years, are quite fragile and delicately balanced, yet have
a mystical feel to them,” he tells Metrolife.
And a testimony to his “delicately timed” images is a monochromatic candid photograph of a young monk captured with his arms outstretched while he was trying to wrap himself in his cape. “I want all my images to evoke some thoughts in the viewers, and I feel this photograph does that the best,” Sharma says while pointing at the image.
Talking about his series, which comprise images from Theyyam, a sacred ritual form of worship and artistic dance practised in North Kerala; and a few black and white images from Bengal, Sanjay Das, an alumnus of College of Art says he wanted his images to be spiritual and serene.
“Fourth dimension is something you can experience, but cannot touch. It is out of reach. These images, whether the Buddhist prayer flags in Kalimpong in North Bengal, or the images which show the transformation of a human to a deity, or the one image from the ‘tantra’ series – they all do that,” he smiles.
The exhibition is on at Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, Mandi House until May 2.