Life and Death Between Chai

3 of our favourite local photographers will be hosting an exhibition in Durban on Thursday.

Within the space of 8 months three photographers from Durban found themselves in India by chance. All three of them felt a special affinity and connection to this magical country and especially so to the holy city of Varanasi – one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

 

After realising that they’d all travelled to and produced work in India they decided that it’d be special to have the collection in Durban, which has the highest concentration of Indian people outside of the subcontinent. The collection consists of almost 100 prints and is is scheduled for the 5th of July at The Factory Cafe (Columbo Coffee in 369 Gale street). The show is geared to be a one night only event since Columbo needs their warehouse to produce coffee. To add to the evening’s entertainment one of Durban’s favourite musicians, Matt Vend will be singing songs inspired by Asia. Matt was in India over the same period as the photographers and even wrote a song about the Old City for the exhibition. The three photographers are Kevin Goss-Ross, Caitlin Fay Smith and Gareth Bright: all KZN locals. Three very different people with very different styles and perceptions make for a fascinating body of work.

 

Gareth’s work (all shot in Varanasi) is a contrast between Life and Death in a place where Death is as commonplace as the cows that roam the streets in the Holy City. Once you get over the “in your face presence” of Death here, Life becomes the spectacle. The work is shot in Black and White. Heavily Inspired by the works of Peter Beard and an internship with Philip Blenkinsop – the works often become worked pieces with hand written text to engage the viewer and allow them to interact with the photographer’s personal experiences. The entire body of work was shot over 5 weeks in The Holy City in March/April 2012.

 

Kevin’s images for this exhibition is consists of 38 artificially lit colour portraits of Indian locals shot within three weeks in January 2012. The majority of it was shot within four days along the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi. The use of an artificial light source meant a lot of interaction between the photographer and the person being photographed.

 

Caitlin’s photographs were shot across India. Primarily in black and white, the photographs are rich in narrative and complements the rest of the exhibition by being softer and more caring than Gareth and Kevin’s work.