There comes a time-or more- in life, where different experiences in time and space, seem to connect with eachother, bringing a feeling of completion, a sense of purpose, drawn on an invisible thread connecting our life spiral. About a month ago I retrieved from my archive photos from my first trip to India, exactly 20 years ago, July-August-September 1993. Experiencing Kashmir and Ladakh, was a ride on the edge and an expansion of consciousness.
Kashmir is truly a heaven on earth but I found it difficult to relax and enjoy its beauty since there were always a sense of danger, mistrust and negative energy in the atmosphere and the people'e eyes. How can you enjoy the beauty of the coming night as it embracess the twin lakes of Srinagar when you hear the soldier's gun loading, pointing at you because your boat was late for curfew? Not that the bus trip to Ladakh looked safer but it sure was the kind of excitement I prefer. Crossing some of the highest road passes on the planet, on a convoy of busses and cars from the green Kashmiri part of the Himalayas to the dry on the Tibetan plateau part wich belongs to India. A two-day trip for a mere 250 km distance, with noumerous moments whene the bus was highwiring on the edge of a ridge that was descending almost verticaly for half a mile to a distant river. Ladakh seems like a desert in the first look. But entering deeper, really it is spacious under a crystal clear atmosphere, with a people and tradition that emanates calmness, love, compassion, tolerance and inclusiveness. In this space I loved to wonder carefree around the streets with nowhere to go and did some photography that I still consider as among my best and happier moments in the art. After that Indian summer the days of innocense ended and another journey started in my life. With many good and a lot of hard times, which were good too because they helped me mature and come to where I am now. It's not coinsidense that i post these photos now. Since I brought them back to light from my archive, amasing things have been happening. I've been diving deep into myself this summer, on a journey of transformation. And a few days ago i found myself sharing that "i'm stepping on the brake with my heart" to keep me from getting too excited and hurt. Then i realised that what truly is happening is that my heart expands creating space that can contain all feelings without me getting lost in them. So i can be present and cool with things. The trip from Kashmir to Ladakh seems to me as the same metamorphosis from one state of conciousness to the other. Kashmir standing as "the brake" and Ladakh as "the expansion". Happy to feel a circle is completing itself.
The photos of this series shown here, were shot in colour negative film, then printed by hand-mine. They have been exposed in various occassions around the country. To be exhibited here, i digitilised from the printed paper through a scanner. But some are missing, so i don't present the whole portfolio here. I will be coming back with the complete series after i finish editing the scanned films.
