Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
CELEBRATED Bahraini photography Ghada Khunji - applauded and awarded internationally for her reflections on life - opened her first solo exhibition in the Middle East and has displayed her work online for the world to admire.
Ghada presented 24 colour images taken during a two-month journey through India's Bangalore, Goa, Hampi, Kerala, Pushkar, Ujjain and Varanasi. They were showcased last weekend at the Capital D Studio in Dubai and are online this month at www.capitalDgallery.com
Brooklyn-based Ghada, 41, who was born in Manama, said: "In my work, the prevalent theme is of have-nots transcending material beauty to which their access has been severed and instead inventing beauty out of thin air.
"One visiting the core of this population - the vast underclass - sees a population that as a function of necessity has unlocked the secret of cohabitation with each other.
"The common thread of poverty ties together a closely-knit people with divergent spiritualities. Elsewhere in the world this juxtaposition results in war and political infighting. In contrast, a major by-product of India's poverty is beauty in technicolour. It is this vibrancy that I was attempting to capture on film."
A photographer who tries to document life and examine its details and intricacies, she said that every corner and every image is part of a larger visual story.
All her images reveal a certain style and composition. The subject is caught in a state that speaks volumes about the individual's lifestyle, surroundings, difficulties and state of mind.
Her lens has captured people in very ordinary professions - a barber, knife seller, goat herder, an auto-rickshaw driver and a musician in a band as well as crowds caught in the act of their daily lives, travelling in an unreserved railway compartment and a scene from a local bus stand.
While she allows her subjects to speak for themselves she does not attempt to evince pity from the viewer but rather admiration for the willingness to survive and live with dignity.
For instance the photograph of a young village girl neatly dressed and ready to go to school throws up the intense desire for education among the most ordinary. The barber very comfortable in his shop carved out of a shanty, complete with hair sprays, a make-shift chair, and his Gods, projects optimism and pride.
Ghada added: "If the viewer cares to examine all corners of each photograph, he or she will discover that the subject's life is open to observation.
"With my work, I aim to represent the average, often mundane story that exists just beneath the surface. Above all, to represent my beautiful subjects with the dignity they deserve and to capture and share a moment with faces that might often be overlooked."
Ghada Khunji was named the Lucie Discovery of the Year for 2006. She won American Photo's first Images of the Year contest and the Golden Lights Award for Travel. Several of her black and white portraits were also nominated for The Spider Awards.
