Coimbatore-based Sridhar Balasubramaniyam believes every form of art must be documented so that it can survive through generations. This preservation becomes even more critical in case of folk arts – and it can be done through photos and videos.
The 29-year-old winner of the Alkazi Theatre Photography Grant 2020 has been documenting theatre for the past seven years. This grant of Rs. 1,50,000 is issued by the New Delhi-based Alkazi Foundation for Arts. There will be a congratulation ceremony and a demonstration of his work soon.
There were Diana Campbell Betancourt, Richard Schechner, and Aveek Sen in the jury. Sridhar was introduced to the jury through this fellowship.
His entry was a photograph story with 30 monotonous photographs, called as The Space between the Body and the Land, by Sridhar. He purposely stayed away from the vibrant colours and gave his work an aesthetic look.
He used black and white to convey the emotions he had been trying to picturise. He says using bright colours would have diluted the impact.
He selected from thousands of photos to send the final entries. Sridhar says, ‘I was at home during the lockdown and had ample time to sort stuff.’
More to go
Apart from theatre photography, he enjoys capturing tribal and inter-cultural weddings. He is also working on one such project involving a wedding of a Canadian woman and a North Indian man.
