Changing images

Interestingly,unlike with the circus artists,she has not photographed any behrupiya more than once and all of them are men,with each one portraying a different character. Among others,there is a Charlie Chaplin,a tourist with binoculars made from an empty plastic soft drink bottle,a lion,and a man dressed as a woman in a red and white sari,holding an umbrella.

The artist,who is presently studying the Daguerreotype process of photography,was enchanted by these performers the very first time she met them. “When I met one in Varanasi dressed as Hanuman,I immediately knew I had to do a series on them,” says the Delhi-based photographer.

On the other hand,she describes the “emotionally distant” pictures of the circus artists as “translations of my personal life”. The same woman dressed as a beauty queen in one picture and as a gun woman in another,the back of a man holding a gun and wearing a suit that declares Raj is his name,a girl with parrots and a clown cradling a doll are some of the performers that have been portrayed in this series. With expressions and stances entirely their own,some of these artists appear delighted at the prospect of being photographed,some not quite so pleased and some rather uninterested,however,each one paints a fascinating picture.