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The whole six yards

Katre-Vaa, an exhibition of RR Srinivasan's photographs, looks at life through the colours and textures of the sari

LENS VIEW One of Srinivasan's photographs

With all the visual poetry that words can conjure, R.R. Srinivasan recounts how as a kid a woman drying herself after a bath on the riverbank had stopped him in his tracks. . He stood transfixed by the image of a sari floating in the breeze until a whackfrom his father got him moving. Katre, Vaa, or Oh! Wind Come, an exhibition of his photographs tries to recapture the magic of that moment. Shot during the Dasara festival at Kulasekarappattinam, Srinivasans's photographs use bright saris as a filter to capture images of crowds on the beach or as splashes of colour that sway in the air.

The exhibition was accompanied by screenings of the artist's films at Alliance Francaise's Top Storey every evening, for a week. The inauguration formalities were extended to accommodate the DVD release of Srinivasan's new film, "The Mask is the Face", and the photographer's 2006 calendar. A line up of personalities had been invited for the occasion.

Rmkv Viswanathan, who has produced one of Srinivasan's movies, wondered if he was the right person to inaugurate an exhibition considering the subject. "My customers don't mind paying even more than Rs.10,000 for a sari. But I am from Tirunelveli and know about women who are forced to dry the sari on themselves because they own only one."

Cultural critic Sadanand Menon who released the calendar, talked about the "sacredness of the image being lost to an economy of spectacle, visual noise and incoherence." Menon pointed out that many of the country's best-known names had abandoned pictorial photography for social photography, and chosen to produce their researched subject in a book instead. "It's partly also because the mainstream media is not giving the respect, and dignity due to serious photography".

Principal Govt College of Fine Arts, Chandru, and filmmaker R. V. Ramani, Jean Pascal Elbaz, director, Alliance Francaise also addressed the gathering, discussing the evolution of photography, it's significance today and the role of the photographer. They encouraged Srinivasan's dream of starting a movement for photography in the city. Going by the crowd at the inauguration, it might have just been the beginning of one.

The exhibition is on till December 24, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Monday to Friday) and from 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Saturdays).

MEERA MOHANTY

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