The arts in unison

ARVIND R. KRISHNA'S interests are photography and Carnatic Music. He brings these arts together and makes photographic portfolios of musicians and dancers. Many of his artiste-subjects are his friends, for Krishna is a well-trained musician as well. His utelage under U.Srinivas is something he cherishes. Krishna has a vast collection of photo prints of almost all the top artistes in the field. This has prompted him to put the photos on display at different locations, both to provide a visual treat for the public and to introduce himself as a photographer. His most recent venture has been to exhibit 19 of his prints at Coffee?, outside the Music College campus - a very interesting ambience in itself.

Seventeen artistes - two of Anita Ratnam and Zakir Hussain - are on display here. A short printout distributed at the venue explains Krishna's photographic techniques; we have to agree with the blurb that the musician or dancer - the subject of the photo - does `dominate the shot'. Movement or motion is conveyed very effectively, especially in the photographs of the dancers; obviously because active movement is inherent in dance. That is not to say that the snaps of the musicians are a passive lot.

Zakir Hussain, Balamuralikrishna and Sashank bring in as much expression to their faces as any dancer would. The artistes represented here are Anita Ratnam, Vyjayanthimala, Zakir Hussain - one with Sivamani - Vinayakram, Nithyashree, Malavika, Balamuralikrishna, Urmila, Shobhana, Soumya, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Sashank, Rajam Iyer, Revathi Menon, U.Srinivas, T. V. Gopalakrishnan, and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

To go back to the printout prepared by the photographer, he is one who enjoys a good vibe with fellow musicians and this has resulted in producing "stunning photographs, pieces of frozen music.'' Some of these photos stop with being just that, while a few go on to suggest continuity, which perhaps is, what photos of artistes should aim to evoke. Many of Krishna's photographs certainly kindle one's imagination and make one wonder about the preceding and following moments of art in the making - photos that would free rather than freeze the precious time the musician or dancer might have created. Some of these pictures made me visualise the actual performances, even prompted the writer in me to give them captions to bring out the particular speciality of that artiste.

A random collection like the photos on display here is another factor that makes a visit to this exhibition a memorable experience. I would have preferred to find a link, not necessarily a theme, bringing the images of such diverse artistes with their different styles of expression representing the same culture and tradition.

Would that have made me go back and forth journeying through the photographs to find some 'unity in diversity'?

In addition to being a photographer and musician, Arvind R. Krishna is also a software engineer currently working on a project in the U.S.

PADMA NARAYANAN

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