Track Record

His twenty black-and-white stills capture this intention,offering passing but sometimes intimate glimpses into the lives of travellers from all regions,classes,castes and generations. Dornik has become known as a multi-media artist committed to both social justice and freedom of thought. One innovative aspect of this exhibition is the film that he created to accompany his photographs. Strikingly simple,it juxtaposes moving still-frames of individual train windows with an original sound installation,beginning with the sounds of water and fire,before concluding with the repetitive thud of techno-beats. Although Dornik was keen to stress that he aimed only to increase awareness about technology’s impact upon society,his own reservations about its relentless march are hard to miss. As the sounds change in his film so too do the photographic stills,becoming increasingly blurred as their subjects engage less and less with their audience. This,says Navneet Raman,the curator of the Varanasi-based Kriti gallery responsible for bringing Dornik’s work to Delhi,reflects the dual-nature of technological progress: “Like the train,technology generally facilitates while also restricting you. It gives,but it also takes back,and it has various ways of imprisoning you,” he says.