BRINGING THEN TO THE NOW

Photos of rural Bengal and ruins are a well-worn theme, but Sarker Protick’s work again makes it new

- Ruchir Joshi

The ruins of a temple stand on a tiny island of earth in the middle of shallow-flooded paddy fields, like the wreck of some ancient rocket that failed to take off many centuries ago. Its pointed top pokes up into the misty winter morning and two of its four side spires are missing, like engines that might have fallen off. The recently irrigated fields are covered in a sheet of water in which the structure is reflected among the tufts of freshly planted rice. The contrast of old brickwork and the evidence of ongoing human activity asserts itself only after you have looked at the image for a while, as if two layers of time are peeling off each other in a decomposing palimpsest. There are other images of ruins in this series (titled Jhirno) that work similarly—ordinary and straightforward at first glance, but which then hook you into a longer engagement and meditation.