Moving Pictures

An old widow looks out at the world with sad,lonely eyes,spiritual gurus and dervishes smile through hash-happy clouds...

Debutante photo-journalist Shivani Dass puts a new frame on familiar subjects

An old widow looks out at the world with sad,lonely eyes,spiritual gurus and dervishes smile through hash-happy clouds,impoverished workmen fix you with a stony stare,their faces weather-beaten and lined,while a faithful bends at the knee before the Almighty. Arguably,these subjects have been done to death,but 26 year-old lenswoman Shivani Dass tries her best to find a fresh new perspective to the extensive repertoire of photo-journalism. Dasss ongoing debut solo,Sanjeevani in a Spectrum at the Alliance Françaises Galerie Romain Rolland,showcases her year-old body of work and documents her travels from Kutch to Ladakh. After I did my post graduation at the Ooty Light and Life Academy of Photography,in 2009 I went to Manali where we attended workshops with professional photographers. I realised that I wanted to be a photojournalist,not a fine arts photographer, says Dass,wielding her Nikon D 300 digital camera with the confidence of a professional.

Uniformity in presentation is not a concern for Dass since each of her works is of varying size and has been shot in either colour or black-and-white. She tells us that that each work is mounted taking into consideration the individual subject. What really brings the show together is the compassion she displays for her subjects and the sensitivity with which she handles light. When I went to the widows ashram in Banaras I was not allowed to shoot them. I had to put my camera on video mode. I kept clicking without even looking through the view finder,arguing with the guard all along,hoping I would get a decent frame, she recalls. The results are up for viewing the widows look out at the world through barred iron gates that resemble a prison. One arresting image is of an elderly widow,whose face fills a darkened frame (see photo),her haunting gaze staying on with the viewer even after leaving the gallery.

Another image that is pure magic is a panoramic diptych of two photographs shot on the Kutch highway at sunset. The pale yellow sky,the lone highway and silhouette of a man makes for melancholic poetry. A moment filled with the serendipity that Henri Cartier Bresson might have called the decisive moment.

The show is on till April 25. For details,call 4350 0200

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