vrijdag, november 04, 2005
Pixiport Exhibits Ami Vitale's Photography
© Ami Vitale
Pixiport exhibits award winning photojournalist Ami Vitale's photography. Her pictures have appeared in magazines around the world, including the major US publications such as Geo, Time, The New York Times, Newsweek, National Geographic Adventure and more. Unsurprisingly she also has a very long list of awards, including the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant, World Press Photo, National Press Photographers Association, POY International and many other awards. One of them was a Magnum grant, given in honor of Inge Morath 1923-2002, the fine Austrian photojournalist.
I wandered briefly into the poetry of Kashmir in November of 2001 and could not let go. Whether trudging through the perfectly etched landscape that included rice fields cascading into the valleys like delicately carved staircases, sipping saffron tea in the warmth of a Kashmiri home or being cradled in the tranquility of a wooden shikara, a gondola style boat, on Dal Lake, this place filled me with affection. I wanted to understand Kashmir and delve below the glassy reflections in its still lakes. The mountains were mirrored perfectly until the oar hit the water, a crack rippled through the reflection and one began to sense that all is not what it seemed. Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir once bustled with life and laughter. Now it lies neglected and pockmarked with craters. Hotels have been turned into barracks, guns peek out behind broken glass windows and netting protects the bleary eyes soldiers from the frequent grenade attacks. The surrounding mountains, once lush and dotted with delightful Alpine cottages sit quietly as structures deteriorate and collapse. The poetry of this magnificent culture has degenerated into the language of mourning and everyone here is held hostage to the suffering. The gaping hole of years of conflict have been filled with the corpses of young men and those spaces that remain free lie waiting to devour still more.
These photographs are dedicated to all those who have died and to those that are living in the shadows of those deaths. It is my desire to give justice to the beauty, strength and suffering of Kashmir’s people and to the unique richness of their history and culture. I hope to inspire in others the feelings that Kashmir has given rise to myself, particularly the simultaneous apprehension of beauty and terror. I believe that all the inherent beauty will survive despite humanity’s ongoing attempts to control and destroy it. Because in this intricate place, where truth and fiction are sometimes inseparable, politics and poetry overlap, the pain is sometimes too great to bear, yet joy is still possible.
In February 2002 the city of Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, once famous as the adopted home of Mahatma Gandhi, was the scene of some of the worst communal violence that India has seen in a decade. In retaliation for a gruesome attack by Muslims on a train carrying mainly Hindu pilgrims that left 59 dead, it sparked an orgy of violence that threatened the secular credentials of India. Mobs swarmed into Muslim communities and killed hundreds, perhaps thousands of men, women and children. The city burned as thousands fled their homes and the official death toll was over 1000, though estimates by human rights groups placed the figure much higher. The wounds from this man made tragedy will take a long time to heal as the bloodbath still continues on a smaller scale.
Ami Vitale
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© Ami Vitale
# posted by Jan-Edward : 12:18
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