Wow Factor

The concept of WOW explores the human body as a living canvas to depict art. So the models wearing these outfits (some of which had to be transported to the location of the shoot in trucks) have been photographed in various locales in New Zealand. “I chose landscapes that would synergise with the outfits and provide the photographs with a surrealistic feel,” says Chawla. So the model in the crystal candle bra,for example,is photographed against an industrial-looking background with a grill and electrical equipments. Every conceivable fabric from plastic to wood has been used to create these futuristic outfits designed by designers from New Zealand.

Chawla,despite setting the rules of fashion photography in India along with others like Denzil Sequeira and Prabuddha Dasgupta,says that he grew thoroughly bored of fashion photography and was looking for a change in style. “This exhibition is my rebellion against conventional fashion photography,” says the 45-year-old Delhi-based artist. He describes himself as belonging to the “original Rohit Khosla generation” preferring FabIndia any day to Christian Dior. Quite a statement to be made by someone who’s worked with some of the top models and designers in India in a career spanning more than two decades.

He recently produced two collections of portraits reproducing the works of artists Raja Ravi Varma and Gustav Klimt with Sailaja Tahiliani,Ayesha Thapar and Chitrangadha Singh among others posing as his models.

While those exhibitions required tedious attention to detail,replication of the setting, and attaining authenticity,WOW

approaches fine art photography from a different perspective. “I used a minimalistic,graphic style for WOW and the result was an air of surrealism,” says Chawla.