New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) At an exhibition here, one of the picture frames shows a lady has some unfinished canvasses, a few paint brushes, a knife and a shoe scattered in her room. These elements are a reflection of the personal struggle she had been through in her life.
The exhibition, Stupid Eye – Realising The Self Through Therapeutic Imagery, inaugurated Tuesday at the Triveni Kala Sangam here, has 13 other such frames on display.
“Before the shoot, I was given an exercise where I had to paint and write the popular slogan ‘Khud hi Ko Kar Buland Itna….’ (Raise yourself so much…). I did it in a few, and in some I didn’t,” Bharti Mohan, a psychologist and one of the participants, told IANS.
“These (the knife and the shoe) are the additional elements that reflect chaos in my life. I have been through personal struggles, run over by many people, and also cheated by a few,” she added.
The exhibition, which is based on the premise ‘to understande one’s true self’, is the brainwave of photographer Vipul Amar and Mumbai-based psychologist Harsheen K. Arora.
“Accepting your true self is not an easy task. It is a courageous process where one has to battle his fear, negatives and peel off the mask of pretence. It wasn’t easy for the participants to be truthful in these frames,” admitted Arora.
“We engaged them in conversations and when they were unaware of the camera presence, we clicked them,” she added.
Before these subjects agreed to be on board for the project, they were given different exercises to express their inner self. Then there were inter-personal conversations that led to the understandings of the pros and cons of the person.
That is when a frame for a subject was decided. The duo, Amar and Arora, then added several elements to these frames.
“Each frame has a story to narrate and many elements in it have a deeper association with the subject,” said Amar.
“We had a model as a subject whose sole aim in life was to do workout. He has been doing it for a decade now, and so focussed was he that he forgot to concentrate on his life.”
“His frame, in black and white with only reflection of just an eye in the mirror dominating the picture, highlights his inner struggles and insecurities,” he added.
The exhibition is on till May 7.