Shadows that throw light

Embark on an exploratory journey with Feeling Absence, Shibu Arakkal's latest photography exhibition, which opens today at Caperberry

For Shibu Arakkal, photography is not about recording a moment but interpreting it. As a photographer, he never just tells a story he asks questions, breaks rules and looks at the other side, making his work fun and mercurial.u00a0



Born in 1976 in Bangalore, Shibu trained under Sudhir Ramchandran and Rafique Sayed and has held innumerable shows in India and abroad. He's also won several awards.

His father, painter Yusuf Arakkal, says of his work: "Shibu Arakkal's preoccupation with abstract forms and his meticulous interpretation of the play of light has resulted in many photographic canvases."

Shibu has been behind the lens for over a decade now. Old monuments, nature and human skin are some of the subjects that have fascinated him. In his latest series, Feeling Absence, on display at Caperberry, he embarks on an exploratory journey, where the subject is absent literally and the shadows are the dominant feature.

Shibu says, "It is like a spiritual quest that forces you to pause and think. The work tries to explore the significance of our life on this planet and our constant inability to realise that real wisdom does not have much to do with intelligence but what one decides to do with it."



Presence of absence

The small format of these images is a deliberate attempt to draw the viewer to an intimate interaction. There is an absence of human form throughout these works, adding to the desolation and loss, nostalgia and yearning.

Shadows of a chair, a bottle and a bell are a powerful allusion to human absence. And, the absence of colour and form in the visuals has an almost disquieting effect. Absence physical, emotional or material creates a chasm that cannot be seen or analysed, but only felt. Deeply.

In his words

Shibu says, "The whole thing about Feeling Absence is that when my daughter Zarah was being born, we went through a whole intense anticipation phase of what kind of person she would turn out to be. I saw Henry Cartier Bresson's pictures, where he abruptly half cropped human beings out of his pictures and you couldn't make out what the picture was about until you saw the shadow.

"Shadows are a relatable link. It is about absence of the subject itself. Every parent goes through the real meaning of life and wisdom, until their child is born. I've spent the shortest amount of time on these series till now. It was done in two-and-a-half months after Zarah was born. I also never title my photographs individually, since it's left to interpretations and people always come up with them when they see my works."

At: Gallery Caperberry, The Estate, Dickenson Road.
On till: October 17.
Wallet factor: Rs 13,500 for all 12 by 12 photos.