Before Now

2015 – 2016

Before Now is an attempt to rewrite the story of another era. It’s an amalgamation of dreams and stories woven together with characters from the past. Many a story vanish with the people who lived them. What remains are shadows of those moments. Some memories become etched in our minds forever and sometimes, out of the blue, years later, you remember special moments that bring a smile to your face.

Each portrait in this series is originally a black and white photograph from my grandmother’s album (1945-75). While browsing through the album I was curious to find out more about the lives of these people, the places they visited, clothes they favoured, the facial expressions they wore. A discovery of an old hand-painted photograph piqued my interest. Soon, I found myself working on one such portrait, reconstructing the life stories of the people in those photos by adding colour, changing their studio backdrops and adding landscapes and mysterious elements. I have attempted to create a visually enchanting imagery. In some photographs, I have cut out the face or body to depict the void that is felt after the person ceases to exist or time blurs the faces that made the memory.

Ashita Majumdar Ganatra has been practising photography since 2006, specialising in portraiture. Previously, she collaborated with various publications, but recently in a bid to do something different, she began experimenting with photo montage, meticulously merging several layers of elements derived from a bank of images she has photographed over the years. This montage unfolds slowly, layer by layer into a pictorial whole. Ashita has earned awards at the Prix de la Photographie, International Photography Awards, and Color Awards. Her work has also been featured in the photography magazine Creative Image.