Ajna (2014-2019)
‘Ajna’ in Sanskrit means as much as ‘the eye one uses to see the immaterial’. The title symbolises Shadman Shahid’s desire to use the lens of his camera to understand the world around him. He often uses long shutter speeds to compress a sequence of moments into one. This way, Shahid wants to show the collision of spiritual and material forces that he experiences in his world. For ‘Ajna’ he photographed unrecognisable objects, people, animals and nature. He works with loud and bright colours and plays with light. Many of the images are oversaturated and blurred with movement, capturing the fleeting nature of time and the incomprehensible elements of the world.
The work of the Bengali photographer deals with the physical and spiritual insecurity of contemporary society. His series are personal and intimate, and in creating his visual stories he relies heavily on magical realism. His work oscillates between documentary and fiction, in which content is more important to him than aesthetics.
courtesy of East Wing Gallery
