Sebastian Cortes was blown away when he visited the historical town of Sidhpur on the banks of River Saraswati in Gujarat. As he wandered the streets he felt an unusual sense of suspension that lingered in the air. Always attracted to cities or towns that have for some historical, social or economic reason, fallen off the map, Cortes found the atmosphere in Sidhpur similar to that in abandoned mining towns in the America west and cities in Southern Italy that once had great commercial importance, then history moved on and left them drifting in the indifference of time. He immediately knew this would be the venue for his next project.
The town once bustling with Dawoodi Bohra traders, today is almost empty with a few members of each family manning the magnificent havelis, some over a century old, that they’ve left behind. An added element that fascinated Cortes was the “layering of visual architectural and symbolic elements that seem to linger in these homes like so many ghosts”.
He got access to the grand homes of the elusive veiled community. Introduced by a very well known local family, they helped him gain access in a delicate way that was not that of the intruder but rather a welcomed guest. Here “Sidhpur: Time Present Time Past” was born.
“It was a pilgrimage from house to house which was akin to the path followed by an investigator who looks for clues, but I didn’t want to verify anything. My search is not to uncover but to record. My clues lay hidden in the two dimensional result of my efforts which become objects of a bigger puzzle that are more universal, more transcendent and speak to each viewer in a different way, as photographs must.”
Many owners of the houses weren’t present and Cortes was often let in by a watchman or neighbor. Other houses were jealously kept in order and dusted by fastidious women who prepared the house for his arrival. On several occasions he was simply let in and became part of the day’s routine, the family going on with their daily life.
“The inhabitants of most of the homes seem to have a rather distant relationship with the homes and the content. Few could really give me any clear explanation or offer details about the architecture or the detailing. It’s important to remember that the key members of the household were often in other cities, I often found older members of the family or the poorer cousins. This disconnect that is similar to what I found in some homes in Pondicherry is part of my research and I hope to have translated this into my images,” he says.
The psychological and metaphorical importance of rooms and what they silently describe held his attention and he wanted to draw the viewer in to the pathos of discovery. “The vibration of the empty rooms and all the surface information speaks to us about a people and their need to express themselves, the exteriorization of the soul life or personal values- the emblematic image of an age, a brief but rich moment of creativity and domesticated poetic fantasy,” he explains.
He wanted to find a balance between the obvious sadness of contemporary Sidhpur and the magical past which the rooms and the buildings suggest. The balance between time past and time present is his overriding theme and he wanted to capture this in a literary sense, similar to the way Orhan Pamuk and Max Sebald have suggested this by their unique approach to time. “I share their unease with modernity and that sense of loss, which is probably inherent in our more accelerated age and certainly very relevant to a quickly changing India, which may benefit from an outsider’s eye who takes the time to unveil small narratives.”
Cortes is of Italian descent. He was born in New York and took up photography at New York University film school. He moved to India with his family ten years ago and in 2011 Roli Books published his photographic tribute to Pondicherry. His latest endeavour ‘Sidhpur: Time Present Time Past’ has been published in hardcover by Tasveer.
His photographs will be on display in Panjim at the inaugural edition of Goa Photo 2015, an annual international photography exhibition from February 25 till March 7. This edition of the public art intervention has ‘The Other’ as its theme and is curated by Frank Kalero. It aims at showcasing photography from around the world in a democratic non elitist fashion. Cortes’ photographs will be among 180 photographs displayed on a stunning scale in and around Panjim and at the Reis Magos Heritage Centre. Fourteen photographers as well as curators and directors of important collections will be part of the programme of events which will be open to all. For more information visit www.goaphoto.in
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