Josef Koudelka, the famous Czech photographer is said to have followed the journey of the gypsies in his book of photographs Exiles and often slept outside with them, with very little food, and developed an emotional bond with them. Wandering and photographing through Europe, during his exile from 1963 to 1970, Koudelka’s images of exile and alienation have been interpreted as ‘speaking of passion and reserve, of his rage to see, solitary, deeply felt and strangely disturbing.’

Arif Mahmood talks about Koudelka and other photographers who have inspired him, as he walks me through his solo show accompanying the recently published photo-portfolio titled “Silent Rage.” The publication and show has been supported by and was held at Karachi’s Chawkandi Art.

Mahmood has documented people and places from fashion shoots to some of the most poetic and extraordinary explorations of texture and form in the most ordinary surroundings since the late ’80s. He relies on the conventional processing of film, which proves that creative vision and imagination need not depend on the latest technologies to be convincing or innovative. These vignettes in monochrome seem to pull away from the quick snapshots and the digital so prevalent today, to a pace much more anchored in an almost classical subtlety and the crispness of the black and white.

In a prologue to an earlier publication, titled Flamenco on the Roof, he explains about wanting to immerse himself in the energy of the moment after a break in his work since his mother’s death in 2006. It was a fashion shoot, and he writes, “It was all on fast forward, and the model Iraj, the lens and the moment. I couldn’t hear the shutter as all I wanted was to capture the ‘Dance’ in front of me.” A book of about 50 photographs of the same model in the same outfit, each page unfolds a movement of the limbs or arms or a pattern in the clothing, unravelling its own truth, and captured in a moment of absolute rapture. Much like a diary, many pictures carry notes that he wrote to himself that further our understanding of his vision and process. Next to one image, for example, the artist scribbled, “The confusion which this image exudes is part of life.”

Arif Mahmood’s photographs are a documentation, critique and reflection of our times

The diversity of form in the photos in “Silent Rage” ranges from an overexposed photo that appears much like an abstraction, a half-torn poster somewhat stuck to a wall, a group of small children dressed in army uniforms on their day out at the Karachi Zoo, and many images with much more ambiguity. Each image though is a true representation of reality. Without manipulating any aspect of it, the artist thus frames what he sees before him, and makes art even of discarded film. Processes — whether they work at the technical level or not — are incorporated as important parts of the final picture.

It is Mahmood’s habit to wander and walk the streets almost every day, to connect to them and, most importantly, he feels the need to record moments and places that may soon disappear. For example, the artist talks about the new meanings that unfolds in a space after the death of a loved one. In addition, he sees the city change as old structures are dismantled to allow for new buildings. As this transformation is witnessed and recorded, there is an engagement with the context — on the one hand with its physical reality and on the other hand to the access to the processes of transformation around him.

These photographs are a documentation, critique and reflection of our times. There is clarity in his method as he is well acquainted with his medium. But the camera is a vehicle to transcend into the poetry of space and form, not a frame that imposes or tries to alter. The crevices and textures that Mahmood frames and the light that he seeks are more painterly than most canvases. Like Koudelka, Mahmood finds his own rage and conveys it thus: “We see the rage and turn away, we keep it for better days and we gaze at the present and collect.”

The show “Silent Rage” was held at the Chawkandi Art Gallery in Karachi from January 17 to January 24, 2017.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine February 5th, 2017