A lens to see the world

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Kolkata-based photographer Leena Kejriwal dwells upon the adage — a picture is worth a thousand words — to tell a powerful tale through her lens.

A member of the Photographers Guild of India (PGI), she has lent her voice as much to pressing social issues as it is to tell engaging brand stories.“I try and make ordinary people iconic and carve out beauty in the simplest of its. As humans we often tend to ignore what lies in our
close proximity and the uniqueness of it,” says Leena of her frames that dwell on life on the streets.

Creative start:
“I started to capture interesting visuals almost a decade ago. But it was then a mere hobby for me. Then the Photo-graphers’ Guild of India invited all its members to submit their creative work and just for the kicks, I sent in a portrait from my now-quite-famous ‘Kettle’ series,” she recollects. Much to her delight, the photograph was highly appreciated. And that sealed the decision to get into photography full time.

Lens matters:
After exploring the streets of Paris, Leena gave Berlin, Tehran and Delhi a shot, literally. In the German capital, her thought-provoking theme was titled When Violence Becomes Decadent. Showcased at the prestigious Freise Museum in Berlin, the montage
underscored the precarious position of girls in urban settings vis-a-vis commodification of sex. Her work on the same in Iran was
mounted at the well-known Azad Gallery in Tehran. Finally, the Delhi leg completed with ‘Entropic Site’.
And to take her work further into meaningful areas, Leena has worked extensively with NGOs like New Light, Apne Aap and Ruchira. Leena has lent her lens and support to a slew of gender-related issues like female education, human trafficking and female infanticide.

Love for colour:
Leena has a huge love for colours and mixing palettes — she nabs red walls, blue doors and green sarees with facile ease. “A motley shade-card is not just a graphic element for me. Rather, it helps reveal a story hidden behind every pictorial slide on display. Often it adds some method to my madness with splashes of hues springing out like a fountain-jet,” she reasons.

Shutterbug’s corner:
Leena today helps corporates create eye-catching brand stories. “It excites me to create avant-garde narratives which arrest the popular imagination. Usually, I dabble in the art of story-telling via a lifestyle event,” she shares.
As an individual creator, Leena has now evolved into an installation artiste “Yeah, it’s an added bonus for me as I’ve got a new angle
drawn to my album of enlarged, laminated stills embossed upon huge, spacious, life-size wall-surfaces.”