Photo

Absence

Absence is a photo story of seven frames where I have tried to picture what my late grandfather’s life was like, with the main protagonist—him—being missing from the photographs, and memories as well.

It’s a work of putting down bits of what I can recall from his life into photographs. It’s a realisation of the reality, that we crave for – accepting that the deceased has left, never to return.

It was four years ago, on 5th May, when my grandfather passed away after he met with an accident that left him with a fatal skull injury.

Ever since his death, I’ve been revising the memories of him doing the things he loved. The memories have stayed in me, and insisted to fill the void that death of a loved one leaves you with.

Things in and around the house have memories of my grandfather attached to them. The memories play in front of my eyes with the absence of the person who these belong to.

Grandpa still ‘survives’ in his vintage frame. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

To Him he has returned. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

The desolated ‘up-to-date’ corner. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

The missing hand in glove. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

It won’t be graced again. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

He knew that It will bear witness. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

Too big a shoes for anyone else to step in. (FPK Photo/Zainab Mufti)

 

The author is a BA Journalism student and a documentary photographer based in Srinagar.

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