HYDERABAD: “The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you,” said Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Persian Sufi mystic and poet. It’s interesting to see photographer Sarah Li quoting the dervish-bard while explaining her photographs that reflect either a part of your face or eyes. She’s not used any high-end technique to achieve this, she’s married Rumi’s philosophy by putting her photographs on glass board that catch the viewer’s reflection through slight slits carved perfectly on the spot that otherwise might be depicting an object of glister.
That’s how in one of the photographs entitled ‘Hari Mirchi Bechne Wali’ we see a woman sitting in front of a heap of green chilies, while her bangles, showing the mirror behind through an artistically crafted gnash, catch your reflection and you become part of her mood.
That’s not just one photograph that catches your attention, there are several of them catching your reflection with some tiny slit on their surface. Though the crafted slashes appear to be interfering with the photographs making them look a bit imperfect, yet the same seem to be in sync with the mood of the moments thus captured. Adds Sarah, “Nothing is perfect. There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light goes in and reflects what’s within.” The recently-held exhibition titled ‘None of My Business’ captured snapshots of different professions of Hyderabad be it an autowallah taking his siesta, a barber attending to his customer or a young medical practitioner happy in her doctor’s coat.
Born in UK, Sarah has Chinese heritage and roots in India as her father, who was born in Tamil Nadu, spent some part of his life in Hyderabad before migrating permanently to England. Her uncle, who stayed behind, runs a dry-cleaning shop in Secunderabad. “I grew up hearing stories about the city, ripe mangoes, the summer afternoons. I always wanted to come. And one day I landed with my camera.” That’s how she’s also made a documentary titled ‘Shanghai Dry Cleaners’ that takes one back in time as she dexterously captures the pulse of Hyderabad.