Namrata Rupani is very particular, to the point of obsession, about the way her photos are arranged for display. The arrangement should give nothing less than the real feel of the places she has photographed. ‘Stories in Stone’ is a photo exhibition by Namrata Rupani, a paediatric dental surgeon and accomplished photographer. In the exhibition she is displaying her works of various old monuments in Hyderabad and Delhi.
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Stories in Stone’ captures images of the Qutb Shahi tombs, the Golconda fort, Paigah tombs, Chowmallah Palace, as well as the Qutb Minar and Jantar Mantar. “There are two life size prints on canvas of Jantar Mantar,” Namrata says.
Namrata is very clear on how she treats her angles; through her imagination of framing and drama of natural light she offers a new perspective of the objects. Some of the images are in monotone, some others in colour; together they tell a story of many layers. If the structures make us pause and admire the craftsmanship of the monument, the same image also tells the story of neglect and vandalism. “What a plethora of gestures of love or acts of war have been etched into stone, leaving a mark for us all to find. These splendacious constructions have time and again proven themselves to be vaults, teeming with extensive tales and vivid adventures that will never cease to fascinate us all,” she says.
On the other hand you can’t help thinking of the glory these structures would have witnessed in their heydays. She puts it in words, “The grandeur of stone still remains, standing proud and resplendent, unwavering through its hundreds of years since its creation, weathering any storm that has traversed. Through its countless years of standing still, have you ever wondered what it would be like it the architecture could speak? The tales we have heard about through bedtime stories, they have witnessed first-hand. This exhibition will act as an ode to the sheer weight and values engraved into these stones, and the stories that still burn bright through them.”
The exhibition is on till March 14 at Goethe Zentrum, Banjara Hills.