Internationally recognised as a lifestyle and
fashion photographer, Sebastian Cortés’ most recent series Sidhpur: Time
Present Time Past is an in-depth photographic exploration of the Bohra Islamic
community in Sidhpur, a little-known small town in Gujarat. Building on his
desire to explore forms of biography, memory and metaphor—this latest
exhibition demonstrates Cortés’ continuing interest in documenting and
uncovering India’s more enigmatic facets, this time through careful photographic
studies of the traditional habitats and domestic spaces of the Dawoodi Bohras,
an elusive and veiled Islamic community.
Traditionally a trading community by profession—indeed, the term Bohra
derives from the Gujarati term vehru or trade—the Bohras are a people who
constantly invented and reinvented their identity in keeping with migratory
patterns. Absorbing and negotiating influences around them, their complex
cultural makeup is strikingly reflected in their entirely unique architecture
that is an amalgamation of Hindu, Islamic, Persian, European and Colonial
styles.
Cortés’ approach is to “take time to unveil small narratives”, and
continually highlight photography’s ability to capture, expose and visually
interpret lingering moods and inherent natures contained within domestic
architectural spaces. The photographs in this series are saturated with
fragments of what was once valued, of past luxuries and prizes, that despite
neglect resist decay and refuse to be entirely dismissed. He captures the
residual memories, histories and traces of past lives that persist in the
facades of buildings, in empty rooms, windows, doors, stairways, and other
distinguishing features of Bohra architecture. Through doing this Cortés’
images allude to the past contained within the present.
Commenting on the slow dissolution of a culture in its encounter
with modernity, Cortés creates an
ambiguous reality where the past and present blur and merge, where the
architecture and physical environment
become cultural artefacts, allowing the viewer to penetrate through the walls
and access the inner realm of homes, spaces, lives and domestic routines
of this otherwise concealed community.
(Tasveer and the Dr Bhau Daji Lad City Museum present “Sebastian Cortés
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Sidhpur: Time Present Time Past” in Mumbai, as part of the gallery’s 9th season
of exhibitions, in partnership with Vacheron Constantin and The Singleton of
Glen Ord.The exhibition will stay on view at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City
Museum until April 30, 2015.)
Images courtesy: Tasveer
Baitul Tarbiyat (Orphanage for Girls).
Exterior of Hararwala House.
Jhaveri House.
Lady of the house at
Roshanbhai Hararwala House.
Najam Hararwala House.
Saifuddin Vagh House.
Street of Islampura.
is a fashion and lifestyle photographer who has done assignments for many international magazines and commercial clients, including American Express, Condè Nast, Ermenegildo Zegna and Publicis. He lectures at the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, and his images are exhibited and reviewed widely in Europe and in India.
