Photo exhibition captures turmoil in Kashmir

“Kashmir is better known as the heaven on earth. But we all know the picture inside is dark,” says Gargi Raina, an artist from Baroda, who has conceived the idea. Raina’s forefathers had left the valley more than two centuries ago during the Afghan rule.

In the garden of the villa is a half buried shikara with its other half entwined in barbed wires. “The view of the shikara is the most interesting sight I have come across,” says Sujan Chitrakar, an artist from Kathmandu.

“The shikara is also a symbol of freedom. The artist, however, has not lost all hope. This is evident from the flower-strewn shikara. “These are the flowers of hope,” says Raina.

Artists from England, Mozambique, Greece, Iran and Nepal also participated in the exhibition.

Harbert Gram Matikopolous, an artist from Greece, has captured the daily life of Srinagar to present a “fairy tale of Kashmir’s past and present”. The photo-essay starts from a peaceful and economically well-off Kashmir, passes through the turmoil and ends with a hope of a peaceful state.