Seeing Double

The photographs are in black and white and Allana plays with light and shade — a man sleeps in a forest dappled in sunlight — and forms and contours — a curved tree trunk is juxtaposed with convex domes. In one diptych,a shot of a slum dwelling is paired with that of a building in ruins. “The slum is in Lucknow and the building in Mumbai,” says Allana,explaining how he has reverse stereotypes.

Individually,the photographs have a documentary quality,not surprising since Allana has spent the past nine years working on the 19th century archives at the Alkazi Foundation. “After a while,I didn’t want to look at monuments through the lens of another photographer,” he says. He set off to Ajanta and Badami and found that “though the frame was fixed,the meaning was not”. The historic spaces come alive — a sweeper stands at the bottom of a steep staircase in Ajanta,and in another shot,children play at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore . “These people belong to these places,” he says.

The exhibition is on at the Allaince Francaise till April 16. Contact: 43500200