India in myriad hues
The real India lies in the galis of all the old cities
KAYNAT KAZI PHOTOGRAPHER
empty roads, the arid terrain and the snow- filled passes and then all of a sudden you see these clusters of colourful ( Buddhist) flags, that are for some reason extremely reassuring,” she recalls. She has also captured the monasteries of Ladakh beautifully through her lens.
A PhD in philosophy, Kaynat first began to take her hobby seriously when a senior colleague at the Shiv Nadar University appreciated her photographs and suggested that she should take up photography profes-- sionally. She then started to learn from world- renowned photographer O. P. Sharma. “I was always interested in photographs, my father was a big enthusiast. I had always wanted to do this, in fact, but I finally took it seriously when my senior Shubhashis Gangopadhyay suggested it,” she explains. Apart from being a photographer, Kazi also writes short stories in Hindi, many of which have been broadcast on the Agra akashvani, and several of her travelogues have also been published in magazines. The photographs on display at this showcase also capture the bizarre movements of people and objects, each of which makes one ponder over the captured transition they are looking at. A picture from Ladakh shows a woman sitting in her kitchen next to a 600 year- old stove that is still regularly used. Another picture, Kazi’s personal favourite, shows a sadhu sleeping next to a wall that has the roots of a banyan tree coming out of it.
Native of the city of Firozabad, famous for its bangles, the cause of small scale artisans is very close to the photographer’s heart. She has dedicated a series of images specifically to the artisans of different places she visited. A series of pictures cover the bangle makers from Firozabad and the minakari workers from Jaipur among others. “These are the crafts that attract the world’s attention towards India and rarely get appreciation from their own people,” she points out. All the images, especially the portraits, leave a lasting impression as you leave the gallery soaked in their hues.