Familiarity of the unknown

The COVID times were very tough for all of us. Being locked inside our homes, unable to do anything, we were completely helpless. But sometimes a little thing can give us happiness. We already had that little thing with us but during COVID, many of us realized its importance while several others didn’t. That little thing was an interruption in the wall- a window. In 2022 when the schools re-opened, the four of us -Aanya Gupta, Devanshi Jain, Nivriti Rajeev Tripathi & Saara thought of working with ‘windows’ as they have been especially important for all of us. Windows provide us with light, shadow, air and much more. It is a ray that gave us maybe a limited view, but in that limited view it shows us many things. Each window is a unique story. The title “Familiarity of the Unknown” justifies our work. Sometimes windows show us things we are familiar with; the things we see in everyday life. We come across several things looking through the window and looking at it. We thought of working with ‘photography’ as we wanted to capture the stories in real time and space and connection. While photographing our muse- the window, we learned many nuances of this technique. The window stories we captured made us aware of how each window is a unique identity in terms of an architectural element, who or what is visible through it. In this context, ‘The cry of the gland’, a photography-based work by Indian artist Jitish Kallat really inspired us. Photographs of shirt pockets represented people from diverse backgrounds. Another photo project tilted ‘Out of my window’ by American photographer Gail Albert Halaban was pivotal in developing our thoughts around the initial idea. Our medium being photography, we also explored works of Indian photographers Gauri Gill and Raghu Rai. Looking back at the project after a hiatus of two years: In our view, the window which offered us an escape and an entrance into the real world during the pandemic. We were in class 7 then & Saara was in class 8. After a gap of two years, our muse - the window seems to trap us in, almost laughing at our confinement. This confinement is a consequence of four of us entering high school & one of us appearing for board examination. This has resulted in us bearing several responsibilities and pressures that we have never known before. These keep us trapped for long hours in our house after school and the window almost mocks like a purdah, a challenge to venture out, which it knows to be impossible.