A weekend exhibition by Indus Creed band member Zubin Balaporia and artist Nandita Badiani portrays nature through light and paint
The duo with pieces from the collection
Walk into Asiatic Society of Mumbai’s Durbar Hall for an art exhibition outside of the gallery’s white cube space. The oval-shaped room will hold a display of photographs by musician-turned-photographer Zubin Balaporia and pastel pencil artworks by artist Nandita Badiani at a two-day exhibition titled Strokes and Shutters.
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You might know Balaporia not only from previous photography exhibitions but also famously as the keyboardist from one of India’s most prominent rock bands, Indus Creed (formerly Rock Machine). Curious about his journey from music to photography, we inquire about it, to which the music director recalls being blown away by the art form during a trip in 2013 or 2014 with a friend who was documenting everything with a small camera. Since then he was “firmly bitten by the bug”.
A portrait of a leopard by Badiani titled Focus
With the privilege to travel across and outside India came experiences, places and moments that caught the attention of his camera. Between music and photography, what about these two artistic mediums drew him? “All art is connected. The [sensibilities of] structure and composition that go into a photograph are the same that go into mixing a piece of music,” Balaporia notes. He believes that there is a right moment to capture a photograph with the lighting, subject and one’s readiness concurring or else, it is not meant to be. “You have one stab at it, and you’ve got to grab it,” Balaporia tells us with a rockstar-like determination.
Nearly 45 artworks between the two mediums tell a story of the outside world. Moody stills of landscapes and horses by Balaporia, and animal portraits by Badiani on opposite sides of the room reintroduce you to nature. Balaporia’s stills are taken across locations including Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, Bhutan, the Amazon rainforest, Siberia, Nagaland, Manipur, and a few taken in Kashmir specifically for the show. Detailing the story behind one photograph of a horse, he shares that the shot was taken after a steep climb to Tiger’s Nest or Paro Taktsang in Bhutan. He continues, “The horse was tired, so it was left alone to rest. The time was also before sunrise so I felt it was a good and white shopportunity for a black ot.”
Badiani taps into the soul and emotion of fauna through a skilled embodiment of the eyes and facial features. It’s almost hard to differentiate between a photograph and a painting, which is a testament to Badiani’s mastery of the tool which she took up only a year ago.
Till February 26; 11 am to 7 pm
At Durbar Hall, Asiatic Society of Mumbai, Town Hall, Horniman Circle.
Free
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