Stranger In Turku

Exhibition
Ishwar Maharaj

 

20th August - 13 November 2010 Selma&Nils, Turku, Finland.

 

Have you ever been a stranger somewhere? What does it feel like?
If you are a stranger does it mean that you are strange?
And if you encounter strange, but familiar things, does the strangeness
cease to exist?

“Photographing life in the old capitol gave rise to themes that seem to permeate through my work, weather it be in the theatre or photography and that is perspectives and reinterpretation. Experiences influence interpretation, so an object or situation while remaining the same, can appear to be something different, depending on who is viewing it and from which angle.

The idea of being a stranger someplace, anyplace has intrigued for me for as long as I can remember. It can bring with it a beautiful freedom or a crippling fear. For me freedom and fear go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other. These photographs represent how I see Turku…on that particular day that I photographed that particular thing. Of course on another day, I probably would have photographed it differently as my thoughts are constantly changing along with my surroundings. The two things seem to be inextricably linked and therefore influence each other.
This city continues to fascinate me, the more I look under the carpet, peek into the cracks and pull at the seams, the more it reveals itself and the more I think I know about this city, the more complex it becomes. Strange is familiar and familiar is stranger yet.”