Bidar - Memorials & Mortality

Bidar is a small city in northern Karnakata, India. It is best known for several series of tombs, constructed during the 15th & 16th centuries CE, by the Muslim rulers of city states, a huge fort from the same period, and a very large Indian Air Force base. Some of these tombs and monuments are still objects of veneration. Others have become static memorials to the past, with the builders forgotten, and their original purpose changed by modern usage. The notions of building something that lasts beyond the grave, the hubris attached, and the uncertain outcomes of this undertaking are fascinating. Visually, a classic black & white approach, with contemporary image modifications to the ever changing skies above these structures, seemed an apt aesthetic & theoretical method for the creation of these photos.