10 OCTOBER 2021 /
GALLERY 1000 A, NEW DELHI /
Solo Show by GIREESH . GV /
Photography Show Curated by Avijna Bhattacharya /
9 October – 27 October 2021 (11 am to 7 pm)
WALKING THE LINE – LIVING TOGETHER / APART :
An exhibition of photographs by Gireesh . GV, brings forth his three decade long practice of documentary photography.
The twenty-day long exhibition at Galley 1000A, New Delhi is curated by Avijna Bhattacharya, art curator, art writer and critic here.
Gireesh . GV has been exploring and experimenting with the camera since the 1990s.
The exhibition displays a body of more than fifty photographs shot during different phases from 1990s onwards at various locations across the country. With multiple series of photographs being evocatively titled as ‘Omnipresence’ (larger than life), ‘Untold Stories’, ‘Paint After Dark’ or ‘The Abandoned Series (Desired and Discarded)’, the exhibition focus on documented images from 1990s onwards until more recent ones and allow glimpses of infrangible characters both living and inanimate, and situations from the urban and semi-urban quarters.
The series like ‘Omnipresence ( larger than life)’ being shot during his stays at Bangalore and the ‘Untold Stories’ from Delhi.
On the other hand a powerful sequence titled ‘Scare Crow’ shot at different locations and situations from Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh primarily depicting the desolate fields and the “scare crow” being an indicative metaphor, shot extensively after 2010, as a photo project on the farmers suicide issues.
Another series named ‘Shortening Shadows’ began at various locations in Andhra Pradesh, but continued through the next decades and was captured at Bodhgaya, Mughal Sarai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Tamil Nadu. Two exclusive photographs in black and white from this series are displayed at the exhibition.
‘Paint After Dark’, was shot uniquely in moonlights, and natural lighting situations after sunset, to explore ‘life after dark’, which began around 2008. A substantial body from this sequence was shot at Delhi in 2012, whereas a few ethereal shots taken in moonlight are from Kutch, Gujarat in 2008-09.
The ‘Abandoned’ series began in 1998, when Gireesh moved to Delhi, however it attained a more mature dimension by 2010.
The ‘Abandoned Hoardings’, from 2008 depict the deterioration in economic conditions of the country with huge hoardings being left unattended and tattered for many months.
One will come across through these photographs; untold stories, omnipresent icons from popular visual ethos, patterns between light and darkness, desired and discarded and representation of ideas of consumption and abandonment — all indicative towards his way of viewing and interpreting encounters with the city and its surroundings, and its rapidly changing environment.
GIREESH . GV, the famous artist and photographer lives and works in New Delhi. He began his career as news and features photographer and worked with many leading publications including India Today, Outlook, Forbes and contributed to the Wall Street Journal Mint and Life Positive in various capacities.
He has published many works internationally in Time and Newsweek Magazines and participated in many projects.
“Continue practice as an artist, that is the best lesson to become a photographer than a camera operator”.
“What you see, and look for how you observe, then think about where and how you can apply, this is very important to photographers,” a message by the renowned artist.
