11 February - 9 April 2023

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The Good Place is my observation of Varanasi, one of India’s Holy cities. Varanasi “The holy land,” as they called it, is also known for another name, The Land of a Million Gods.’ It’s a city where the Ganges River flows through dividing the city into the ‘heaven’ side and the ‘hell’ side. According to the Hindu's belief, the Ganges River is the place where heaven connects to the earth.

I first put myself as an observer and let myself flow along with the hymn of the city. As I walked through the city I felt captivated and it was love at first sight. After my 4th trip, I accumulated all the images and spent a couple of years developing a visual language to portray the essence of Varanasi. I form a connection between my work and the city through culture, religious beliefs, spirituality, and similar social constructs which are fundamentals of most of my work. My images exist at the border between reality and the dream realm which I created through the use of flash, to reveal how the supernatural seeps into the city and its people even in the age of technology.

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Religious beliefs to the people of Varanasi are one of the most important pillars in life. They adhere to the long-entrenched Vedas which consist of 4 treatises. The Rig Veda - a chanting hymn for the gods, The Sāma Veda - dedicated chanting  to the gods, The Yajur Veda - a description of the sacrifice rituals and The Atharva Veda - a collection of magical spells. This hasn't changed much for the past 5,000 years. People still bathe in the Ganges River to purify their souls. To be closer to the hands of gods, people want to spend their very last moment in life in Varanasi. Also, the caste system is deep rooted here, stemming from Hinduism, and is still strictly abided by the people. I want to capture the city that seems to be frozen in time; different scenes, and moments through my own perspective. It’s my attempt to grasp the lessons of the Holy City from an outsider’s point of view.