Read the following to know more about the project.
For years I had been thinking to start a portrait project of the people I meet in my life. I have been very fortunate in meeting and interacting with some very amazing people. People who, I believe, have made my life a little more meaningful. People who have helped me be who I am today, knowingly or unknowingly, just by being there. But I never found the perfect time to do it.
Somehow the stars aligned one day. And I took some portraits.
I believe when you see someone's portrait, it doesn't just tell you something about them, but it also tells you a little something about the person who took them. How the artist choose to approach his subject is something you can analyse, if you're upto it. So there might be a pinch of narcissism in this project. I'll live with that.
But I wanted to go deeper than a portrait.
I asked them:
What would you like to be written on your gravestone?
Writings on gravestones have always fascinated me for several reasons. Usually you don't get to pick what you want to be written on it when your time comes. But what if you do and you want it to be true?
It's deep, it's personal, it might be dark for some, but it'll make people think. We all see ourselves in a certain way, we want others to see us in a certain way, and then there's the way we are. These impressions are all unique and private to every individual. I believe to answer that question we all will have to access those images consciously, which might be first time for some people. It certainly was for me. I think answering that question will help you know something about yourself that you didn't know earlier. It demands you to go to a place inside you where you haven't been before. I could be wrong, but I'm happy with what I got.
I combined what they told me with their portraits.
And now, I feel every picture in this project tell you a much more meaningful story which doesn't only depend on the person in the picture, but also on the imagination of the viewer. The viewer chooses the way to connect the person in the portrait with his gravestone.