ਸ਼ਰੇਆਮ । Openly.

is a constructed photography series that imagines intimate moments in the lives of desi folk who live their lives beyond the ‘wagon-train morality’ or the kind of morality that seems to have a mendacious meaning, predominantly when it comes to sexuality and love.

Those who pave their own path through a kind of confrontation with the moral burdens surrounding them in the cultural and social context somehow become a danger to the system of ‘Love’. In the post-modern world where equal rights movements and related activism are ubiquitous, their freedom lies not in a movement but in the romantic dreams of their own lives. These photos are meant not for idealization, but for a shared revelation and connection. I accept, without question, that while photographing my subjects, I hoped that there would be a transactional moment between me and them- that I would be able to penetrate and capture some essence of their personalities, not visible to the naked eye. My subjects are immigrants I’ve come to know in varying degrees, over the course of 5 years, who became the source of my inspiration after I watched each of them live through their melancholic rebellions and take charge of their lives.

Through these photos, I hoped to converge my impulses for the traditional and the unconventional expressions of romantic love with the romance of art for its own sake.

All ‘Sar-e’aam’ prints are available upon request.

Prints are Photo Rag Baryta Paper from Hahnemuhle with a 100% cotton base and a very finely textured gloss surface finish.

दिल लगाने की शर-ए-आम सज़ा देता है,

नरम लहज़े से वो अरमाँ जगा देता है।

गर कोई चीज़ मुकद्दर में नहीं होती तो,

उसकी रग़बत को खुदा दिल से हटा देता है।

-शम्सा नज्म

He punishes you for openly falling in love, and evokes some desires with soft winds.                                                     If it is not destined for you however, God erodes the desire of it from your heart.

-Shamsa Najm