Suryan & Dang, "Death of a nation" (2020)

The Hall of Nations was an iconic modernist structure designed by architect Raj Rewal. Novel and expansive it was inaugurated in 1972 to commemorate the silver jubilee of India’s independence and thus, held a special significance for our young country’s post-colonial history. So the news of its demolition on 23 April 2017 came as a shock to the entire community of architects. While the demolition continued, Suryan and Dang paid their last visit to the architectural marvel and documented it visually. This print is made from one such photograph of theirs. Recollecting their sentiments from that visit, they write:

“The last architect to occupy the Hall of Nations - The fear was as real as someone in the family was about to die. The sharp sun and dusty window panes had a lot to tell. Surrounded with the rubble of its siblings at its feet, stood hall number six, waiting for its turn. It was like someone knew they were about to die. The fear was getting deeper and more real with every passing hour. Thirty hours later from the time when this image was taken, on a bright Sunday noon, I was editing the image in my studio and the phone rang. It was a message with an image from a friend, the image of the death of the nation.”

Suryan & Dang is a collaborative practice for visual storytelling through various available mediums. As the two hosting partners, Saurabh Suryan and Lokesh Dang centred their practice around investigating spatial language and the emotions involved within it through materials and light primarily using film, videography and other digital mediums. Saurabh Suryan is an architect with a Bachelor's degree from Sushant School of Art & Architecture, Gurgaon. He worked as an architect with many renowned firms across India before establishing their photography practice in Delhi. Lokesh Dang has a post graduate diploma in Creative Photography from Sri Aurobindo Center for Arts and Communication and has been practicing as a documentary photographer, for which he has won a National Media Award.

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