Serena Chopra’s black-and-white photographs, shot with a Hasselblad camera, is a creative journey that began with a trek to Bhutan in 2002. She kept going back for long spells, exploring the pristine landscape and living with the local people, exploring forgotten cultures and traditions, as well as the layers of modernity in Thimpu. “I am comfortable with black and white,” she says, even as the mountain landscape explodes with colour. The faces that she documents are without inhibition, but all hide as well as express their own personal and social histories, a narrative which complements black-and-white.
At a travelling exhibition of these photos, there is one striking image from Merak village in 2005. Solitary Nima Chozom is captured in a classic ‘Vermeer’ moment. She is not, however, ‘trapped’ indoors in her feminine space, looking from the window at the light outside. Nima, instead, stands in the light in her courtyard, between the home and the world, in a moment of reflection. Wangdi, again in Merak, rides a horse into the distance, but looks back. There is a restless dignity in him, as if he was challenging the camera. A farewell dance in Sakteng village is charming in its simplicity of movement, typical of mountain dances. The profiles of Yangchen, ‘going out’ for a party, or in a moment of intimacy and privacy with a friend, are loaded with a certain introspection.
Serena Chopra: Bhutan Echoes is part of Tasveer’s 11th season of travelling exhibitions. It was on view at Bikaner House in Delhi from May 6 to 14. The exhibition, which has travelled to Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, may soon be in Vadodara, Jodhpur and Chennai. The photos are also available in the form of a book; visit www.tasveerbookstore.com for details.
Images: Serena Chopra
Text: Amit Sengupta