Abul Kalam Azad / photographer: December 2013

Sunday, December 29, 2013

chemical process / sepia-toned / hand-colored man with tools / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / hand colored print 2005

man with tools / photography © Abul Kalam Azad 2005 / hand colored pigment print 60''x120''

man with tools / photography © Abul Kalam Azad 2005 / hand colored pigment print 60''x60''

Anil Dayanand / Photography © Abul Kalam Azad / silver bromied prints 1991 - 2012

Photo {bio} graphy

I know Anil since the late 80's. We call him Thumbs up… because he had 6 fingers in his right hand. When he was working in Botswana, he cut his 6th finger. We still call him Thumbs up…

Three years back Anil called me from Chennai. He was attending an art camp at Mahabalipuram. He asked, 'Abul, where are you?'. I said, 'I am in Tiruvannamalai'. He wanted to meet me. He came to Agni shylam and stayed with me for few days. We went to the marvelous contemporary time museum of art - the Arunachaleshwarar temple. He was moved by the architectural marvel and the magnificent Chola rock sculptures.

Anil is born in Kerala. At a very young age he decided to become an artist. In his early ages his interest was in different art practices, which also included martial art. He joined Trivandrum Arts college to do his bachelor degree. After that, he did his MA from Delhi college of art. During the 90's he became a editorial illustrator and his remarkable contribution to Sunday Observer and many other periodicals / newspapers is noted. He has been using video art, sculptures and has been performing in various galleries / other art venues through out the country. He has done several sculptures which are significant in the contemporary art practice. He also has been teaching in various art institutions in India and abroad. His interest in various art forms including photography, music, architecture and poetry is still alive and is reflected in his works.

Anil Dayanand / Photography © Abul Kalam Azad / silver bromied prints 1991 - 2012

Saturday, December 28, 2013

'Coral Hill' / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 30x40 pigment prints 2012

What the bird said…

Johnny ML

I have been expecting a day
When human beings would start
Speaking to flowers, clouds
Rains, trees and death,
Presently I realize that
Nature has been talking to us
All these while but all of us
Keep our ears closed with
Various tools of distraction.

It was her one drop of tear
That woke up my soul
From its lethargic slumber
It was a mere touch of her toe
That shook me out of all illusion
To a world of astonishment
It was her yogic trance that
She had gone into while talking to me
That taught me the lessons of silence.

During the days when all mirrors
Reflect our own images in thousand forms
Of illusion and passion
Like the touch of a stone that shatters
All illusions into a million smithereens
We all would wake up and see
The billion shapes of our existence
Getting reflected in a dew drop
Or in the cry of a simple bird
And flow into the river of time.

The girl who speaks to a bird
With multi-colored feathers
The old man who could make
A bird to pick out
The present, past and future
Of those sorrowful and helpless people
From rotting pictures of muted gods
Tell us the same truth.
Whether we believe it or not
Poems and the purity of soul
Are sung by birds only
A truth that had been, that is and that would be.

I was aiming at a bird in a distance
With the arrow of my arrogance and desire
Before I could launch it
She flew unto me and said:
Take me, I am yours.
She touched my rough fingers
With her soothing feathers.
It was only then I realized
That it was not in conquest but in surrender
The future of me, the people and of the country
Resided.

It is not before an army that you surrender
Not before the war cries of soldiers
Not before the blindness of ego
Not in front of the fake gods-
Say the forests, hills, rains, rivers
And their concentrated silence to me.

Our strength to surrender resides
In the knowledge and awareness
That we ourselves had exiled from
Our perturbed memories.
Let us walk back in search of those powers
When we realize that progress
Lies in any direction in a round earth
Let us retreat from the streets.
Through the trajectories of birds
Let us fly towards a universe of
The known and the unknown
And the one that is waiting to be known.

An image in miniature ART notebooks 'Coral Hill' / photography © Abul Kalam Azad

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Narayana guru

and

Ramana maharishi

photography © Abul Kalam Azad

ramana maharishi / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 30''x 40'' pigment print 2010

ശ്രീനാരായണ ഗുരു രമണ മഹർഷിയെ സന്ദർശിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്.രമണമഹർഷിയെ സന്ദർശിച്ചശേഷം രമണാശ്രമത്തിലെ സന്ദർശക ഡയറിയിൽ മഹർഷിയെപ്പറ്റി നിർവൃതി പഞ്ചകം എന്നൊരു കവിത രചിച്ചു. ഇപ്പോഴും രമണാശ്രമത്തിലെ ഡയറിയിൽ ശ്രീ നാരായണഗുരു രചിച്ച കവിത കാണാവുന്നതാണ്. അദ്ദേഹത്തിന് മഹർഷിയോട് വളരേയേറെ അടുപ്പമയിരുന്നു. ഗുരു നിത്യ ചൈതന്യ യതി രമണാ‍ശ്രമത്തിൽ കുറേക്കാലം താമസിച്ച് രമണ മഹർഷിയിൽ നിന്ന് ആത്മവിദ്യ അഭ്യസിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്..അദ്ദേഹത്തിന് സന്ന്യാസ ദീക്ഷ നൽകിയതും ഭഗവാൻ ശ്രീ രമണനാണ്.

guru narayana / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 60''x 60'' pigment print 2013

ramanashram / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 40''x 40'' pigment print 2011

Saturday, December 21, 2013

photography © Abul Kalam Azad / Archival Print on Hahnemuhle 12”x12” / 2010

Three Lovers

A kaleidoscopic view of love, life and personal history

Kaleidoscope reminds me of those memorable childhood times… I remember the weekly chandha (market) in my town. An old muslim fakir used to sell colorful paper covered kaleidoscopes. Almost every week my father had to buy me a new one, as I would have already opened the mysterious kaleidoscope to see what is inside, know how it works and in the process destroyed the kaleidoscope. The joy of looking through those mirrors remained with me like a psychedelic trip…. in the same way I attempt to look at my own life through a kaleidoscope. The original analog photographs and polaroid images from my family albums has become a mirror image of that time and memory. These autobiographical personal documents is being made public through these dramatic kaleidoscopic images.

photography © Abul Kalam Azad / Archival Print on Hahnemuhle 12”x12” / 2010