"ATTA DEEP BHAVA"(The Photo Exibition)

"Atta Deep Bhav ", An Exhibition was showcased in Balgandharv Kala Dalan, Shivajinagar from 14^th Augest to 23^rd Augest 2013 has got appreciation from all levels of art lovers, experts and critics. The exhibition was all about immense hard work done by Pune’s native research photographer Pradip Pawar for digital restoration of the sculptures and paintings in Ajanta caves.

The exhibition was about Ajanta caves situated few kilometers outside the city Sambhaji Nagar in Marthwada Region of Maharashtra. The World heritage site consists of sculptures, carvings, paintings depicting cultural heritage from period before Buddha’s ‘Dyan-Prapti ‘(Illumination), During Buddha’s legend and ‘Mahapariniravana’(Demise of Lord Buddha) along with JATAK ’ Lok-Katha’ (Stories).

The Ajanta caves are divided by the life work of different king and prince’s names from Siddharth bloodline namely Mahasudarshna, Sibi-Kapota, Sudhana ,Sankhpala,  Janka, Kalyankarin, Sumagadha-Mahosadha, Marvijya, Mahapratiharya Among which most of them are lost completly .

The actual journey started in 1989, when he went to see the caves first time along with his mentor from city based art school Abhinav Kala Mahavidylayaand have seen patch on the world known painting of ‘Bodhisatva Padmpani’ was missing. First reaction of the young student was a series of question. Where is the part of painting? What happened? In Hindu culture it is considered that broken idol or photo frame is bad omen and should be replaced with new one. So, he asked his mentor that cant they replace the paintings too. The answers from mentor didn't satisfy the young man’s curiosity and there born the desire to save the heritage at any cost.

Beyond regional politics, the art lover persistently tried to get the required permissions from Archaeology Department of Government of Maharashtra for the research. Eventually after getting these permissions in 2007 the artist tried hard after approaching Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) get the work started and which is still continued. Though the site was declared as world heritage still he had to struggle for 18 yrs to get permissions for research which is clear proof of our system’s failure. The artist along with his team so far has been successfully restored around 14000 sq inches of work in caves digitally.

The restoration process is divided in 3 steps:

• PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION.
• COLOR CORRECTION.
• DIGITAL RESTORATION.

Although the technology is advanced, the restrictions at the site made it needle in hay stack efforts to get the work done. He says, ”The initial phase i.e. documentation” was not easy one , the most of the caves have no proper light. We were not allowed to use flashes, as it may damage the colors so we have to depend on Fiber Optic focuses and Natural light”. It is hard to get the clear shots of Jatak paintings on high ends of walls and they are obligated to use some low height traditional wooden stools kept in caves by archaeology department and nothing else hence Pradip  has to develop 22 feet tripod himself for the work.

You can understand Pradip’s dedication from the fact that he waited around 1 year to get perfect shot of Buddha sculpture in cave no 19.”I wanted the lighting which could have added meditative pose of the sculpture” the artist said in article from Indian Express.

Relatively, being a commercial Photographer, the next steps are much easier. The artist explained astonishing color changes due to environment, water damage and events like special coating given in Nizam period to protect the drawings. Digital restoration takes between 3 minutes to 11 hours of time to restore every sq inch of art work. For instance, he color corrected and digitally restored Sibi Jatak painting which was almost 60% lost.

The exhibition displayed 7 ft by 36 ft photograph of the site from cave number one to 28, spread across a kilometer. Pawar claims it to be the largest photo ever clicked of Ajanta Caves. The Exhibition showed model of concave shaped line of caves along with labeling where the artist showed light orientation and worries about lost caves. There was also a kaleidoscope showing 360 degree view of cave no 4 which gave the illusion that the viewer is present at the site himself.

It was delight to visit the exhibition, hear from artist himself about how the art depicts heritage, emotions, lifestyle, means of comfort, challenges and satisfaction.It was great to see that in this great work his family is standing proudly with him in all evens and odds. 

The Pradip Pawar foundation needs much more time and funding to complete the work so, you can give any kind of help to the foundation.For contact, mail at: sendprasadpawar@gmail.com. 

Mr. Pradip, Wish you very best for further work.....!