BENGALURU : Photographer Tushar Khandelwal and body painter Alicia believe that art is a powerful medium to spread awareness and messages, and hence, have collaborated to create a series called ‘A call to action’. The series combines body painting and photography to spread awareness on social issues such as domestic violence, animal rights, air pollution and child labour.
Bengaluru-based Tushar, 24, says, “We wanted to raise awareness on issues currently plaguing our society. So when Alicia, who is Dubai-based, came down to Bengaluru in July, we brainstormed about how we could convey messages through an image. We wanted to form a narrative using a video and body paint, and we are using photography to send the message out to people.”
The duo has clicked six images for the series. “Since I’m a fashion photographer, I knew a few models and they were willing participate. We painted their faces and clicked some pictures. I later added a few elements to the photographs. For the picture called ‘Animal Abuse’, I edited the model’s picture wearing a leather jacket to make it look like human skin was being used to make a leather jacket. It involved lot of post production work. We started the shoot in August and completed it in September,” he says. The shoot for the air pollution image was done in Indiranagar. “Later, I added some components to depict how pollution affects us,” he adds.
Of the six pictures that the duo shared on Facebook and Instagram, he says the ones on domestic violence, rape and air pollution received the most likes and comments. “The response has been amazing. Some NGOs collaborated with us to repost these pictures on their accounts. We were featured on a couple of blogging sites as well,” he says.
The duo has decided to work on a couple of more such issues. “Alicia has gone back to Dubai now. Once I get to meet her again, we will work on our plan to do a shoot for more such issues. We would like to highlight issues such as dowry, global warming and racism next,” he says.