Focussing on deviations in seemingly visible symmetry, photographer Vivek Mathew’s new series straddles everyday places for perfect imperfections. For this, he does not have to travel far. He simply looks beyond that, which seemingly soothes the eye. “I was in the Nilgiris driving through tea estates to observe patterns, which I have always subconsciously been drawn to when a set of patterns attracted me, because they were perfect in their inconsistency,” explains Vivek, adding, “Similarly, I observed this coconut stack on the way back and forth from home in Domlur. The set of coconut patterns, which are lovely and green, had bronze in between, making the green imperfect.” What’s pertinent in Vivek’s rendition is that the browned coconuts complemented its green counterparts, to perfect the stack. In confluence with this metaphoric journey, his series took on the title of Perfect Imperfections.
These images are much like life. “They reflect how I have become an atheist, because religion, which is construed as perfect, has so many imperfections. With its divides and barriers, it separates people and brings disharmony. So, subconsciously, when I find something beautiful, which I wish to capture in my shutterbug, my lens reaches out to its inherent imperfections, which are instantly obvious to my eye,” says Vivek. While on his travels, from home to the city centre, this photographer subconsciously tunes into the beautiful patterns, which capture his attention, watching out for imperfections, which alter its generic state. “I found perfect imperfections in the shadows on a tea shop wall in Beijing, the shadow of an iron railing cast on a road in Cubbon Park in Bangalore and the interiors of a Colonial building in Hong Kong, near the harbour. I tuned into the bark of a tree trunk, exhibiting its inherent texture in Conoor, a pepper field with haphazard, yet symmetrical layout in Avalanche, Nilgiris, roles of barbed wire in a hardware shop near City Market, Bangalore, water patterns over sunset in Haus Khas, Delhi, a bunch of jute ropes in a harbour in Hong Kong, window blinds at Koshy’s Restaurant, Bangalore and leaf patterns on a translucent sheet in my uncle’s army quarters in Delhi. In the shadow of the leaf patterns, you can see stalks, which do not have all the leaves. Yet the shadow in totality, looks perfect,” explains Vivek.
The road Vivek travels, is not off the beaten path, into the wilderness or undiscovered destinations. The destinations are up market, urban and directly relatable to the city dweller. “I do so because I connect with this world in my daily life. I would not be doing justice if I were to look for images in a zone, which I myself am not comfortable in and don’t connect with,” says the photographer, adding, “Having said that, my image of plastic chairs in the series I am showing, was shot in a village in the Nilgiris. I connected with this sentiment, because there was a certain ‘urban-ness’, which was being brought to this otherwise rural place.”
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