The Strangers We Know art exhibition explores disconnect among kith and kin

Discover the emotional and artistic connections between strangers and family at The Strangers We Know exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Strangers We Know art exhibition, currently on at Neighbour Gallery in Kesavadasapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, is divided into two by a monochrome partition filled with photographs from the exhibit titled Surge by Chennai-based photographer Priyadarshini Ravichandran. The black and white portraits are displayed in a grid, bordering the entrance to another room where the rest of photos from the series are showcased.

On the opposite wall are art installations by Thiruvananthapuram-based artist Sanath Sugathan, faintly boasting shades of green, blue, brown and more. Unevenly spaced and unique in form, the works range from acrylic paintings to sketches by the artist wrapped around the gallery’s pillar.

However, despite the evident contrast, the artists and their art are tethered by their disconnect with the familiar and the familial, “attempting to cope with the fragility of blood ties while also celebrating the connections they experienced with strangers.”

Surge solely consists of pigment-printed photographs captured by Priyadarshini during a workshop in Cambodia. The rest of the exhibit includes an accordion photobook with pictures glued to it in a checkerboard pattern and two larger photos on each side, showcased on a wall.

The photos stemmed from Priyadarshini’s need to capture a “loss of connection” with her sibling back home. Portraits of “strangers, animals, trees, rocks and cityscapes became placeholders for articulating the complexity of my relationship,” she says.

“I made Surge from an insuppressible need to free myself from the guilt I felt due to an estrangement. My process and pace of taking photographs was rigorous, as if to express myself even when communication had ceased,” says Priyadarshini, a winner of the Parasol prize by V&A Museum, a prestigious international award for women photographers.

Another exhibit by Priyadarshini is Paattu Class, a 15-minute documentary made with footage compiled over the last 10 years. It deals with the relationship between the photographer’s mother and the mother’s aunt. Priyadarshini studies music from the two, and these lessons form the crux of the documentary. Over the years, the aunt became a mother to Priyadarshini’s mother.