Purnesh Dev Nikhanj twists and turns the architecture of Chandigarh to create hypnotic animations. In these critical days of Coronavirus, the photographer and architect talks to AD India about how photos can bring calm to chaos and how taking a good photograph is all about seizing the moment.
In the eyes of architectural photographer Purnesh Dev Nikhanj, nothing is ordinary. In his extensive portfolio of interior and exterior photography, Nikhanj depicts a knack for capturing visual phrases and contexts that are otherwise unseen; he captures a proportion and pattern that may otherwise be unconsidered. With his most recent personal project, Lost in Paradox, Nikhanj expands on his eye for the unusual through animation, digitally morphing images to create symphonies of movement in static spaces. Much like the times we are living in1, it asks the existential question—can images teach us more than just visual lessons? Can they offer lessons in stillness and quietude?
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- 1. Nikhanj shot most of the photographs in the Paradox series on a mobile phone. “Most of these images were an emotional reaction to something,” he says of his process. “Obviously I have seen these places many times, but in the process of taking these photographs, I was channelling energy.”
