Surrealistic: Sublime defined through camera lens

ISLAMABAD:

One cannot help but lean in and look closely at images of the internationally-acclaimed photographer Mudassar Ahmed Dar which went up on display at the Nomad Centre and Art Gallery on Saturday.

Titled “Feel the way I do”, the exhibition of 26 paintings showcases the photographer’s eye for the mundane and the ability to bring out the intrinsic beauty.

Three of the photographs from the current exhibition have been published in National Geographic Magazine in November 2011. When asked about his work, the photographer did not have much to say for he felt it speaks for itself. Just as the exhibit title suggests, Dar wants the viewer to take their own impression of each piece, whether it is dawn at Bibijundi’s tomb at Uch Sharif or the illuminated Diran Peak in Hunza.

His subjects are mainly rustic life and nature, ranging from traditional games such as tent-pegging, to modern architecture to the changing tones of dawn and dusk.

The photographs stand out for attention to detail capturing the essence and mood of each scene. In some of the pieces, use of dust and smog makes the pictures resemble surrealistic paintings.

In one black-and-white shot, an elderly man holds up the manuscript of a tattered dictionary with a glazed look in his eyes, while in another a child missing his front tooth reclines against earthenware, their expressions intense yet candid.

Miki Shishikura, a visitor who had walked into the gallery without knowing about the exhibition, was pleasantly surprised to see the photographs. She said they aptly portrayed the beautiful country.

Nomad Curator Nageen Hayat said the exhibition was a farewell gesture to the outgoing British High commissioner’s wife Fariba Thompson. Thompson dubbed the country as a photogenic one and commended the photographer for his skill, likening his photography to “writing with light”.

A graduate of the National College of Business Administration and Economics in Lahore, Dar currently teaches photography at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan and dabbles in sketching and miniature painting.

The exhibition will continue till December 22 from 10am to 7pm except Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2013.