A photo exhibition on effects of nuclear war

Sridhara Tumari’s photo collection has a total of 64 photographs, none of which are photoshopped

Freelance writer and photographer Sridhara Tumari’s abstract photo collection ‘The World After Nuclear’ made the rounds online, and upon its good reception, he has now decided to present the collection at an exhibition this week.

Capturing the beauty of the Western Ghats, the photo collection has about 64 photographs, none of which are photoshopped.

Sridhara shot the pictures over the course of 10-15 years with a definitive thought of what the world would become of after a nuclear war.

Reading through ‘The Nuclear Barons’ by Peter Pringle and James Spigelman, a book that provides the inside story of nuclear power, which also carried the quotes of Bhagavad Gita. Finding the quotes of Bhagavad Gita in a western spurred his fascination, and he started reading up more works on nuclear war.

Wanting to spread nuclear and environment awareness, Shridhara took up this project. He elaborates, “My collection features the chopped up trees near the backwaters, remembering the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. I want to project how disastrous a nuclear war could be to our environment; it is first-of-its-kind abstract photography.”

He adds that all the pictures portray all the five physical elements. He says, “The world is an illusion; only the panchaboothas will remain after the nuclear war. The drifted wood at the Western Ghats has become the subject of my photography.” About the process he followed for his shots, he says, “I wandered, waited for the perfect shot and lighting, and captured; It is the result of 10 years of my hard work.”

Talking about his future projects, he shares he would like to exhibit the abstract photo collection abroad as well.

He adds, “I have also clicked many other pictures of Western Ghats that I would like to display. Also, I want to do a solo exhibition featuring pictures of Yana that I clicked about 30 years ago; it is a different take of the environment.”

As a piece of advice to new age photographers, he says that rather than using Photoshop, they should take more natural photographs.

“It is best to keep it all natural. Also, they shouldn’t disturb nature while clicking pictures,” he signs off.

Event details
‘The World After Nuclear War’ will be unveiled on April 24 at 4 pm at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Kumarakrupa Road, with filmmaker and environmentalist Suresh Hablikar, artist Rekha Hebbar Rao and artist Shivanada Basavanthappa as chief guests.

The exhibition is on till April 30, between 10 am and 6 pm at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.