“You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are, you are who you are.”
I wrote this phrase 11 years ago and I still stand by it today.
I’m Bhanu, a visual artist living in Sydney. I’m inspired by the unpredictability of life. My upbringing in India has given me a great appreciation for the diversity of people; their beliefs, traditions and way of living. Understanding life and the truth in who we are is what drives me to create my images and share them with my audience.
One month into my Diploma, I was diagnosed with Star Gartz disease, a condition that affects the eyes. Rather than being limited by this condition, I pushed ahead with my photography. This is not the first challenge I've encountered in my 20 year career in design. Today I find myself more creative and more driven as a photographer and artist.
The two projects in the exhibition are a representation of my two worlds, sometimes clear and other times blurry.
Project 1
My work in Project 1 , Documentary, captures my love of telling a story in the most honest and authentic way. These documentary images cover four cities, spanning three countries each marking a point in time within the world we live.
My hero shot, a self-portrait honours the 298 lives of Indians, who have reached such despair during the Covid-19 lockdown they have taken their own lives. For me, documentary photography requires me to be present; to be observant, astute and willing to be entirely in the moment. I learned this while documenting the clean-up efforts of the Disaster Relief Volunteers after the Australian Bushfires this February. It’s also about my passion for observing people and the circumstances that create their lives, from the little boy and his puppy in the rubble of a poor Indian village to the soft, warm faces of the people of Bangkok. Before I took their photos, these people were strangers to me but now there’s a part of their story that I can share.
I have captioned my images as follows:
Image 01- Hero shot. Self portrait, 298 suicides in India during Covid 19 lockdown
Image 02- Bushfire despair
Image 03- Slumdog
Image 04- Lady of peace
Project 2
This second project follows an area of photography I am currently exploring; conceptual. My approach is to take photographs that capture the concept of movement, reflecting the moment in its real form. This series represents both the relentless push of life and the nonstop energy of our minds. It shows the many layers we portray and that even if we are still, time never is. Our scattered thoughts, our spinning world, everything is constant motion. These images are so much more than their view, or their colours, or their subject; they are the splintered seconds, the energy in motion and often complex layers of life.
I have captioned my images follows:
Image 01- My world
Image 02- Blue umbrella
Image 03- Solitude
Image 04- Into the deep
