Banality

2015

My year in Rochester, which is located on the banks of the River Medway in the southern part of the United Kingdom, defined both my photographic process and identity. Provoked by feelings of not belonging, this body of work represents the connection photography makes between time, memory, and emotion. The foggy nights on the riverside always seemed like a reflection of my own sense of feeling lost, confused, and uncertain of the shape my photography would take during my time as a student.

The images in these pictures disappear into featureless shadows, much like my memory of Rochester. Though they limit the viewer’s vision only to what’s offered, my own imagination transcends the foreground into a distant place. Reduced depth lets the nature of the scene become unclear, creating tension in the image—that of not knowing exactly what is and what is not. As Walter Benjamin suggested, the camera produces representations of reality and psychic spaces that challenge interpretation, sometimes by stripping places and objects of their banal obviousness. Banality asks the viewer to look beyond the obvious.

Abhishek Anupam was born in east India and has a Masters in Photography from the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester (UK) in 2015. Following his graduation he undertook a period of independent work in London. Since relocating to Mumbai, he is been experimenting with the possibilities of cinematography within photography, imbuing his images with theatricality to capture uncertainty within everyday scenes.