Environmentalist Ravi Agarwal trains his lens on the rapidly changing cityscapeIf in 2006, he shocked Delhi with visuals of the Yamuna that featured in his book Immersion.Emergence, in his current exhibition titled ‘An Other Place’, Ravi Agarwal has moved beyond the riverbed to capture the rapidly changing cityscape. With urban development as his focus, he zooms in on innumerable locations in the Capital, from crumbing buildings to long forgotten green patches. The photographs may not indicative of the vicinity but that was not Agarwal’s intention either. The absence of particulars, in fact, is what lends universality to the prints. “For me this is a personal documentation of spaces that I grew up seeing and the changes that are occurring,” says Agarwal, as he looks at a photograph that has the image of a white mannequin—he bought it at Jamia—superimposed on brick coloured quarters in Lodhi Colony. “These will soon be pulled down to make space for new constructions,” says Agarwal. They may soon disappear but the environmentalist working with the non-governmental organisation Toxics Link, has given them permanence in his photographs—they feature in the series ‘Mechanical Man’, which is a part of the display at Gallery Espace. Shot in the last two years and neatly divided into four categories, the photographs have been digitally altered. Several photographs have been merged to form one complete image representative of urban development. While the series titled ‘Urbanscape’ has unfinished buildings juxtaposed with lush green trees and flowerbeds, the series ‘Machine Man’ has Agarwal in front of the camera. His body covered with oil, he works with machines to show the effort a labourer puts in, reminiscent of his previous series (1997-2000) titled ‘Down and Out: Labouring under Global Capitalism’, that featured working people from the informal sector of Indian economy. Apart from still images, a two-channel, two-minute video titled ‘Oil is not Water’, also features in the exhibition. “It depicts the futile attempt of mixing oil and water and is also an offshoot of the rising oil prices. Water may be free and people may be worried about the shortage of oil, but the video reflects on the fact that water will be more scarce than oil in a few years,” says Agarwal, who has represented India at forums like the acclaimed ‘Documenta’ exhibition of modern and contemporary art with his images. “Fortunately photography is gradually becoming part of mainstream art in India. The acceptance does pose its set of challenges though. It will not be viewed in isolation from other mediums and one needs to be ready for comparisons,” adds Agarwal. As he looks at a photograph of the now shut Rabindra Rangshala, the reality may appear grim but the larger picture represents development. Negotiation, according to Agarwal, will be the keyword—in urban development and world of photography. Ravi Agarwal’s exhibition is on at Gallery Espace
