Sohrab Hura traces the passage of winter in Kashmir in photographs that are both picturesque and violent, exploring the beauty and extremity of the region’s natural and political landscape.

Kashmir has been at the centre of disputes between India, Pakistan, and China since the partition of India and dissolution of the British Raj in 1947. Each country has laid claim to the land despite the persistent struggles for self-determination of those who inhabit the region. Snow documents Sohrab Hura’s repeated visits to the Indian-administered region of Kashmir over a five-year period, recording its passage through the three distinct phases of its winter: Chillai Kalan (harsh cold), Chillai Khurd (small cold), and Chillai Bache (baby cold).

 

Hura’s images trace the progression of these phases, with snowmelt evoking the wearing down of illusions and continual changes of the contested state. Across photographs of Kashmir’s landscapes and communities, picturesque imagery often gives way to residual markers of conflict and violence. Kashmir has been promoted as a paradisical tourist destination to Indian nationals, and above all as a place they can experience snow. All the while it has remained one of the most heavily militarised regions in the world. This dichotomy between beauty and brutality serves as Hura’s inspiration for the project, which is the first in a pair of twin publications exploring the social, economic, and political landscapes of Kashmir, in Snow, and Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, in a forthcoming volume, through the extremity of their seasons.

Details

ISBN13: 9781917651462
Format: Hardback
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Publisher: MACK
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
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Author Biography

Sohrab Hura (b. 1981) lives and works in New Delhi, India. He has self-published five books under the imprint Ugly Dog: Life is Elsewhere, A Proposition for Departure, Look It’s Getting Sunny Outside!!!, The Levee, and The Coast, with the latter winning the Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Award 2019 and its accompanying film premiering at Berlinale 2021. His short film Bittersweet (2019) was awarded the Principal Prize of the International Jury at the 66th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2020 and the short film The Lost Head & The Bird (2017) won the NRW Award at the 64th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2018 and the Videonale Award of Fluentum Collection 2019. Select recent solo exhibitions include ‘Mother’ (MoMA, 2024–25), ‘Ghosts in My Sleep’ (Experimenter Colaba, 2024), and ‘Sohrab Hura: Half-Moving’ (International Oberhausen Short Film Festival, 2022). His work can be found in the permanent collections of MoMA, Ishara Art Foundation, and Cincinnati Art Museum. He is a member of Magnum Photos and is also represented by Experimenter.

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