Looking for Greener Pastures

While many photographers work towards bringing out the unusual in the usual,city-based Asha Arpit zooms in on the regular — the greens of Chandigarh. Her lens focusses on the way trees grow in the wild,children play under the trees,birds rest in the serene and the leaves age,wither and die. “It is my way to showcase the greens of Chandigarh in one glance,” says Arpit,taking the visitors through the 50 photographs that are on display as part of an exhibition called “Aesthetics of Green”. The collection has been done over a span of 20 years.

With each frame bringing alive a new shade of green,one gets absorbed in the blossoming bougainvillea and also the aging bargad trees. If one picture zooms in on a canopy formed by a group of trees on the Sector 10 and 11 dividing road,another captures a windy morning at Leisure Valley. The only two pictures that have human faces are those clicked at the busy side roads of Madhya Marg and a bus stand,where students stand in its shade.

“Trees do so much for us and this is my way to pay tribute to them — by making people realise their importance,” she says. Arpit has organised the exhibition as a part of her Save Environment campaign and wants to make people aware of the depleting green cover. Through her exhibition,Arpit has shown Chandigarh as a model green city. She now plans to take the exhibition across the country,starting with Hisar,Jaipur and Jalandhar.

The exhibition is on at the Government Museum and Art Gallery,Sector 10,till September 29