Meditations of another kind on 'The face of grace'

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Meditations of another kind on 'The face of grace'

Postby nirlep » Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:45 pm

Meditations of another kind
On
The image “The face of grace” by Arati Rao
Image of the month at CNP, November 2011


junius_600.jpg
"The face of grace" by Arati Rao
junius_600.jpg (59.72 KiB) Viewed 3872 times


There has been an encounter at Yala. Some eco-pilgrims including Arati Rao who took the picture are stopped in their tracks when they see that they share the road with one elephant.
“suddenly, from a bend very far ahead, loomed an elephant. he was huge, even from a distance. we kept going, and i was a little taken aback at that. i must have alarmed the driver when i screamed (or was it implored?) at him to stop. i told him to shut off the engine. and we waited.the elephant sashayed towards us extremely gracefully despite his size, putting one foot right in front of another, almost like he was walking a ramp. when he realized that we were stopped right in the middle of the road, he clearly had to make a decision. i saw him hesitate for a second or two, he took one step back and then continued towards us. stopping a few meters away from us, he sidestepped into the brush and waited there. not eating, nothing. just waiting.” Arati Rao.
The animal waited there to see how its gesture is returned. The pilgrims moved on, clicking while doing so. The animal a pachyderm overwhelms Arati to express “Politeness, non-confrontation, grace, and dignity, personified. that beautiful creature. i smiled and laughed inwardly for it reaffirmed in me that they are so much bigger than us, in so many ways.”
She has narrated her experience alongside the picture. Her words ineluctably become part of the picture providing us with a visual sequence of which the picture “The face of grace” happens to be the last (as well as lasting) frame.
With words describing her experience we enter the photograph with a fore-knowledge of what transpired. Just the way photographer’s words are screen-shot of her experience, the picture becomes the other side of the story, elephant’s. So what do we have here; a photograph hurriedly taken by the photographer who in-spite of her wishes couldn’t have stopped to click. Almost nostalgically she trains her camera at the animal while driving past. In doing so she preserves a slice of space-time. It seems that in-spite of having “become” civilized our umbilical cords with our past are still intact. The urge to disappear into that other-life shows up at moments like this. When we can’t do so in a literal sense we try and carry the moment as a pixelled map of light. The souvenir becomes our own personal arbour into which we can disappear at the moment of our choice. Knowing the esteem in which Arati holds this great survivor the picture is an attempt to touch the distant and receding.

By not working on the image she has preserved the character of the incident. The image moves between light and dark, definite and in-definite, revelation and suspense. Reassured by dark, the animal stands divided between two worlds. The fading light, understanding the meaning of staying invisible, helps out. It gently caligraphs elephants’ body with foliage. The brush transforms the animal into a signature of itself. We see only a punctuated form of elephant tapering into surrounding darkness. It’s limbs are not visible. Usually darkness is associated with heaviness. But here opposite happens. The elephant seems to float in dark-black ether.

Out of the photographic effects it is the nature of light which commands maximum attention. It tapers off sharply from Junius’s head to hind. It heightens perspective and takes us deep into the frame. Here we enter a dark universe like night in which Junius appears (or more appropriately descends) as in dream, looking sentient, conscious. There’s something more going on here. The depth, together with surrounding dark, switches between time and space. The elephant seems at times to appear from space and sometimes from past.
junius_600.jpg
"The face of grace" by Arati Rao
junius_600.jpg (59.72 KiB) Viewed 3872 times

And what about the feelings of the elephant affectionately christened Junius by the park officials at Yala? Junius too has been through the encounter. Such incidents must’ve happened before as well. Has it made it less wary of such happenings? The fact that it stepped aside and hid in the bush is a pointer towards perception of risk if not danger. The other marker of Junius’s feelings is its eye which, on the contrary does not indicate any sign of fear. In fact it looks calm, observant and reassured that it will pass off soon.

Fading light, anxiety, and excitement are the recipes which give the image a quality of lightness and of being –out there, both of them being opposite to our perception of pachyderms as being heavily grounded and, because of their mammoth size –right there. The portrayal of animal has been done with delible light. But there’s a lingering quality about it which makes it last in our minds, indelibly.

Thanks Arati! for this lasting impression

Nirlep Singh
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Re: Meditations of another kind on 'The face of grace'

Postby AratiRao » Sat Dec 24, 2011 7:39 pm

In how many ways can i relive this very special moment?
Nirlep - you just gave me one more way.

And how!

thanks for such a thoughtful critique that stands as tall as the graceful pachyderm itself.
i'm off to read it yet again...
Warm regards,
Arati
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