Things Felt But Not Quite Expressed (2022 - Ongoing)

The Introvert, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm


Saturday Night, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Stranger Things Season 4 Episode 1, 2023                                                         
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                 
30x40 cm                                                                                                                       

Learning to slurp on noodles with Kosuke in Kamakura, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Siblings, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



First Love, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



All I wanted was to get myself a fucking beer, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm

Did you feel the tremors last night?, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm


Asshole, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm

               

J’s upcoming holiday, 2022                                                                                     
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                   
18x24 cm                                                                                                                        

School days, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm


Mother, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



Cats of Tara, 2022 (re-worked in 2023)
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                   
24x30 cm                                                                                                                       

Dance, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm


It was spring but he was not there, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm



The misunderstood asshole, 2022 (re-worked in 2023)
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                   
50x70 cm                                                                                                                       

Father with illness, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm


Mum’s winter garden, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm



Summer days in Delhi - 1993, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm

The green dress, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm



Show-off’s at the family lunch, 2022                                                                     
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                   
30x40 cm                                                                                                                      

A sudden bout of love, just before bath, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Office chair, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



The phone call, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm

Marc had decided to get us some chips, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Birthday cake and pea soup in South Delhi, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Winter evenings at the skating rink in Pokhara, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm


Kebab mein haddi, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Negative, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm

Nightfall in Jahanpanah forest, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Secret meeting, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Television in the 90’s, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm


Summer trip with A, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



The story of my life, 2023                                                                                     
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                  
30x40 cm                                                                                                                

An offering, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Bigoted relative, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Summer evenings in Morjim, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm

Delhi to New York, all sixteen hours of it, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


That uncle who tries, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm



2:43 am, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm

Self portrait with new hair, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Reality check at 9 am, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Grandfather right after a long overdue apology. Or at least an attempt at it, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Yesterday, 2022                                                                                                             
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                  
50x70 cm                                                                                                                      

Mother, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm


Grandfather 1982, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm



A photograph, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                 
24x30 cm  


Friends, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Unfinished argument, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Monsoon evenings on Rabbit island, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm



Teeth, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm 

My mornings with the human, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Summer Days, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm



The bus screeched to a halt and I made a mad dash to the toilet at the far end of the stop but, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm

Somebody said ‘play’, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70cm


Marlene and mum, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm


Father and the last days of radiation, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm



3:26 am, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm



French bread, 2022                                                                                         
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                   
18x24 cm



Guest, 2022                                                                                         
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                   
30x40 cm                                                                                                                      

The asshole who steals from my kitchen, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Bath, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm



Friends, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm


Dry grass, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Creep, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm

Toad with butt, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm



School choir, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm



Youngest sibling , 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm



Privacy, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm

Remains of the day, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



A movie, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
16x24 cm


Last night, 2022
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm



Mother’s eyeliner, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm

They ran out of milk so Gupta uncle and Vicky rushed to Mother Dairy, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



Bengali photographer, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                 
30x40 cm  



Parents on zoom, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



Everyday meme, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm

Uno, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



Done, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm



Done, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm

That uncle who keeps butt dialing, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm



A memory of my mother waiting for my father to return , 2023
Soft Pastel on paper                                                                                                 
30x40 cm  



Wheeeeeeeeeeee, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm

That asshole who is always at the right place at the right time, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Everyone’s got to stop sending me this meme, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm

There was a reason for shutting the door, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm



A sudden gust of wind, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm

The beginning of a secret love affair at dinner last night, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
24x30 cm


And I carried on walking, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm



Everyday news, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm

 
Mother and father dreaming in their sleep, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm

The rock in her hand, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
50x70 cm



The last light, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
18x24 cm


Grandmother, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
30x40 cm


Grandmother, 2023
Soft Pastel on paper
70x100 cm


Things Felt But Not Quite Expressed are reflections on everyday ordinariness with notions of love, joy, relationships and the familial at their core. The last two years were stippled by a series of events including damage caused to my lungs because of covid, a sudden death in the family and more recently the diagnosis of an illness with my father. For some time now, I have been unable to make photographs not only because of the aforementioned circumstances but also because of a growing numbness to the photographic image. 

In June 2022, by chance I discovered drawing and felt unexpectedly attracted to it- maybe it was because of that long-forgotten feeling of tenderness which felt even more palpable the more I realized how one could also sculpt an image into existence with one’s fingers. Until then photography had taught me to collect the whole image all at once and I had missed out on the slowness induced by the process of drawing altogether. Or maybe it was because now the image drawn would constantly fall apart with each new layer added because of the softness of the pastels. It felt so different from that stiff permanence ushered in by the camera to be able to record and document, that I had grown so accustomed to and then finally wary of. Either way, these first drawings have allowed me to continue to collect together the fuzziness of memories as well as to give an extended imagination to my curiosities in a journal like manner not dissimilar to my early works in photography when making images was to experience catharsis to deal with a difficult period of illness at home at the time.

I still continue to search for undercurrents of the social and political even if looking towards my more immediate space, my human world continues to comprise animals as well, text continues to be a strong companion of the image as titles to the drawings to temper the tone of the images and I even recognize a familiar editing tendency drawn from the process of building photobooks that has started to emerge as this body of work continues to grow. Only the wavelength (language) and temperament of these more recent images drawn in pastels are different.


Sohrab Hura
January 2023