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Exhibition
Runway
and Beyond
Insan's
photography captures models on the ramp and during moments
of respite
Mustafa
Zaman
It was
in 1991 that Khademul Insan was literally dragged by one
of his friends to take a course on photography at Bangladesh
Photographic Society (BPS). Once initiated into the world
of celluloid, there was no turning back for him. One of
his friends, Pallab, introduced him to photography and the
other, Pial, groomed him as the photographer he has now
become.
 "Pial
was my neighbour and an excellent photographer; he taught
me everything from technique to aesthetics," says Insan
who is having his first solo at Cafe Mango, Dhanmondi.
Insan's
encounter with French movies had a lasting impression on
him; it also made him more mature as a photographer. His
involvement with a film society since 1994 helped him cultivate
his craft. "The probing psychological gaze into the
characters that I've seen in French movies always inspired
me," he attests.
However
involved in the aestheticised world of cinema he has been
since 1994, Insan's first commercial venture, which was
right after he completed his course from the BPS, was a
commission for taking photos of a surgeon at work. "My
father introduced me to the famous surgeon Dr. SR Khan,
and he assigned me to take a series of medical photos. However,
the sight of blood made me squeamish and all I did was some
work on the demonstration classes where cow-organs were
substituted for human's," Insan recalls.
 Insan
clearly did not have the heart for images that capture humans
being cut open by a surgeon; he settled for fashion photography
instead. His exhibition, too, is a comment on the world
of fashion and glamour. "I put my pictures in batches
-- each photo of a model in the ramp is contrasted with
another that shows the model in a totally different light.
I wanted to show to people that however glamourous the fashion
world may seem, the real person is always more attractive,"
exclaims Insan.
His
show tries to dispel the 'magic' of the glamour world. As
a model, any young woman is robbed of her personality. The
dehumanisation is always shrouded in the glitters that the
fashion world thrives on. If this was the focus, Insan could
have made his comments more poignant by thinking up ways
to poke fun at the whole affair. This he did not apt for.
What he did was a subtle play between the two images that
he placed side by side -- one of the model and the other
of the person behind the model.
"Many
said that Tupa's unassuming posture in the non-model-like
portrait looked really beautiful. And this made me happy,
as I really wanted the viewer to feel the difference between
the model and the real person," Insan points out.
This
show was conceived as a critique of Chobi Mela, the international
show arranged by Drik, which Insan feels, as always, leaves
out thehome-grown talents. The show was put on display on
December 16, 2005 and will remain open till the first week
of February, 2005.
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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