Street fighters
Life is what interests 18-year-old Adhar Maheshwari whose photography exhibition “The Hidden People” is being showcased at the Lalit Kala Akademi.
Featuring people from the streets and the rural areas, the 21 photographs by Adhar displayed at the exhibition, looks at the tougher side of life. Adhar says that the exhibition is about those who can be found anywhere in India, roaming around on the streets, building sand castles at the seashore, playing with muddy water or anywhere else. “But despite of being visible all the time, nobody really gives a thought to them. Nobody goes to them and asks about their well being. They are hidden from the thoughts of most of us. And hence comes the name, The Hidden People,” says Adhar, who has been a finalist in the Royal Commonwealth International Photo Competition’10, Citizen Journalism Educational Trust (CJET) Street photographer of the Year, The CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year’11 and the Snap Shot Teenage Photographic Prize. Adhar’s photographs have also been exhibited in Delhi, Sydney, Valletta and London.
Adhar says he has been interested in photographs since he was a kid. “I used to look at photographs and analyse them. But it was almost three years ago when a close friend, who is immensely interested in photography, took me out for a photo session and got me hooked to photography,” says Adhar.
He loves the process because it allows him to betray time and space, and tell the most amazing stories about often unnoticed people. For this exhibition, Adhar has explored various lanes and by-lanes of Delhi and Lucknow. Besides capturing the lives of those on the streets, the young photographer has also documented a flood-ridden Barabanki.
There’s a section at the exhibition that features eight photographs of flood-affected Barabanki. Adhar says that he was in Lucknow when he got the news of flood at Barabanki. “Since it is just three hours away, I took up my camera and went to the place to document the life of people affected by flood,” he says.
Adhar always has his pocket digicam with him, as “You never know where and what fascinates you”.
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