Edge of Faith

While your busy commuting by train everyday, from home to office, back and forth, sitting on the backseat of a chauffeur driven car reading your morning newspaper while sipping on the best take away coffee to work seems like a breath of fresh air.

Well, that’s the same feeling I got when I visited Edge of faith, a unique photo exhibiton by Prabuddha Dasgupta.

Not to say any of the other shows I attended during the day were bad or mundane, but I always knew what I was in for.

Bright and spotless white walls with focus lights that are ergonomically designed to bejewel each masterpiece of the artist, obtrudes on the wall, void of any distractions.
To further accentuate that moment of connect between the photographer and the guest, there will be a comforting instrumental music in the background.

Well, you might be thinking that the experiences of an upcoming photographer visiting art shows tend to be cynical. But I hope you will understand what I mean, when you visit Prabuddha Dasgupta’s exhibit in a rundown warehouse in Byculla Mumbai.

I have no idea if this is the same modus operandi he had followed for rest of his exhibitions. But this one worked perfectly. The theme of his work circle upon the Goan people who are tangled between their Portugal influences and the eventual necessity to adapt themselves to changes culturally and otherwise as Indians!

About 30 of his pictures are up on these stained, decrepit walls of a derelict warehouse. The viewer enjoys the experience of crooning his neck between the branches of trees that adorn each of his frames to get a good look at his images. As you soak into the goan-ness in each of these images, a local train zooms past you in the background setting you on an ethereal time travel to Goa.

While I stare upfront into the eyes of the girl standing behind a huge cross for a background…there is an eerie silence in the warehouse. You will find yourself staring at Prabhuda’s pictures in absolute stillness that is disrupted once in a while by a crow or two that echoes the mood of Prabhuda’s mind and its interpretations on the walls of this warehouse.

The exhibition, Edge of faith, was such a wholesome experience for me, probably because this is the first time that I am experiencing a display of very realistic work in a very realistic environment that it almost makes it surreal for me. The kind of feeling, one would enjoy very rarely!

For those of you in Mumbai, the exhibition is on at 561, 563, NM Joshi Marg, Byculla.

Cheers,
~s~