These images in this photographic exhibition are a personal chronicle for Marc Baptista, an artist and filmmaker – an exploration and rediscovery of his origins through this project on the soul of the ancient city of Varanasi (Benares).
In this oldest inhabited city, these images distills his journey, capturing the ancient and multi-layered city that breathes in contradictions – where the sacred and the profane, the eternal and the immediate exist in a tight embrace.
Though he was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), much of his adult life unfolded overseas, and now settled in Melbourne, Australia. His early experiences were travelling through India alongside his documentary filmmaker father which offered him a unique and objective perspective to observe and explore. He learnt to appreciate the enigma and the wonder of India. Of all the many locations he visited, Varanasi (Benares) left him with an indelible impression.
Returning after nearly five decades, he found the contradiction of a landscape transformed yet unchanged, a paradox of time – mystifying and intense.
These images of Varanasi reflect his own exploration – unscripted, instinctual, deeply felt. At every turn he was exposed to the intense devotion, rituals, and a spiritual fervour within this ancient city that was overwhelming.
In trying to capture the city and its inhabitants – Marc wanted to depict its raw beauty but also its intangible essence – the pulse of life, the weight of history, the endurance of the human spirit. He tried to avoid the clichés of poverty and to just observe. Each frame told him a story – a testament to devotion, to impermanence, to the profound dance of life and loss …and confronting mortality. And he also got to embrace his own discovery.
