The Stage Within

The Stage Within is a series that combines photographs and short free-form texts. The intuition at the origin was that the text should correspond with the image without being a description. There is a dialogue between the text and the photograph. The words influence how one reads the photograph, the photograph in turn influences the meaning of the text. This becomes a conversation. The project is meant to materialize as a book but it can also be presented in other forms. The series looks at the inner life of human beings: absorbed in the drama on the stage within, we become oblivious of the world and we are hardly aware that our life is governed by the stories and tales that our mind tells itself. The series follows a narrative that opens with an invitation to the audience to step inside. The first chapter considers the human being as the puppet of their own inner agitation. The second looks at the impact of social constraints inherent to the work place and other sites of socialization. The third chapter contemplates the persons we look up to, our closed ones or the distant idealized figures that we admire. It also tells of encounters with a few impoverished analogue nomads. The final movement goes back to the stage within but in a more mindful manner that makes way for a relative lucidity. The epilogue is a conscious nod to the fragility and worth of the human experience, served with a slight touch of humour.