Visual Splendor: Travels in Northern India
Photography by Amy Davenport
On display at the CVMC Art Gallery
August 25 - October 20, 2019
ARTIST STATEMENT
In November of 2018, I traveled for the first time in northern India, specifically to what is known as “the golden triangle” formed by Dehli, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Jaipur. I was told that India would overwhelm my senses, but even so I was not prepared for the visual splendor I found there. The colors were dazzling. The architecture was unlike anything I had ever seen or experienced before. Attempting to capture as much of that beauty as I could with my camera quickly became an obsession. I was fascinated by the history – the Mughal Emperors in Dehli and Agra, and the Maharajas in Rajasthan who built such stunning palaces, forts, mosques and tombs. For centuries, Muslims and Hindi were able to live peacefully in the Mughal Empire. Religious tolerance was considered a virtue. Within certain parameters, the art forms of the two cultures borrowed from one another, thereby enriching the beauty that each produced.
My photographs are divided into four groups: Architecture, the Taj Mahal, Women of India and a broad category I simply call Street Life. The captions shown with each group share more detailed information including location and what I observed and experienced.
These photographs were taken with either my Panasonic Lumix or my 8s Plus iPhone. Had I known, or even imagined, the visual experience that was about to overwhelm me, I would have ignored the urge to pack light and included my Nikon…but hindsight is 20/20. I am, at best, an amateur photographer – someone who has always loved taking photographs but had no time to get serious about it until I retired from a 35-year career in the law.
I have many people to thank for helping me to put this exhibition together. First and foremost, I thank Rob Spring, an extremely talented photographer in his own right, who provided invaluable help with editing and printing. Many thanks also to Linda Hogan whose photography classes at the Montpelier Senior Center taught me how to see the world in a whole different way. Thank you to Maureen O’Connor Burgess for giving me the opportunity to exhibit and to Patricia Gaston for inviting my husband and me to travel with her to India. And a special thank you to my husband John who put up with my incessant need to photograph everything I saw. I could not have done this without his help and support.
THE GALLERY at Central Vermont Medical Center is located in the lobby of the hospital and is open every day. For more information about THE GALLERY at CVMC please email Maureen O’Connor Burgess, Curator, at moetown52@comcast.net.