Special Effects

She whirls around slowly so the camera can capture every detail, like the sparkling white border of her cream dress with her parandi spiralling out of the frame.

Filmmaker Alia Syed buries the prints of her film Priya in compost to come up with unique images

She whirls around slowly so the camera can capture every detail, like the sparkling white border of her cream dress with her parandi spiralling out of the frame. Gradually, the image of Kathak dancer Priya Pawar in the film Priya disintegrates and smudgy shards and purple blotches smear the screen, leaving the viewers straining to catch the next frame. For London-based experimental filmmaker Alia Syed, it is the departure from the linear and traditional forms of filmmaking that interest her. At her first solo exhibition in Delhi, “Elision” at Talwar Gallery, Syed, 44, of Welsh and Indian origin but based in London, brings the philosophy of structural filmmaking of the 60s into the artistic arena. On display are her three films Priya (11 minutes, 30 seconds), Swan (4 minutes), A Story Told (14 minutes, 20 seconds) along with nine images from the film Priya.

Syed weaves memories and rich emotions with a disjointed narrative, going beyond using the camera as a mere tool for recording. “When I saw the footage of Priya it came across as classical and I had problems with the notion of a traditional image. So, I made several prints and buried it for one-and-half years in compost in different parts of my garden. For the first six months, the film didn’t change, later when I buried it again, the emulsion layer had scraped off and that’s what you see on the screen. Some of the effects are also due to water,” shares Syed.

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And it was the avant-garde films of multi-disciplinary Canadian artist Michael Snow, American pop artist Andy Warhol and American filmmaker Stan Brakhage that inspired her to skip the linear route of story-telling. “I was influenced by the school of experimental filmmakers and the notions of structuralism. That’s where the disjointed narrative comes from,” says Syed. But there is more to these short films than just disorderly narrative—poetry in the form of abbreviated conversations appears in A Story Told (2006-8), filling the small room with abbreviated conversations of the character who recounts her tale of a seemingly hopeless love. “It’s like she is leaving clues for her lover in the hope that he’s going to find her,” says Syed, who provides the narration. Her other work Swan (1989) is a visceral rendition of a bird bracing for a flight in Hyde Park with beautiful close-ups. “It’s the treatment of a simple subject such as the swan and bringing a textural quality which is amazing. You can watch her films from any part in the narrative, and instantly pick up the thread,” says gallerist Deepak Talwar.

Up next, Syed is gearing up for her next film Wallpaper — story about a pink wall paper painted by Syed’s grandmother in one moment of feverish excitement and how it is recreated by four generations of women. “It’s how memories and traditions are passed on. While my grandmother thinks the motif looks like a flower, my daughter feels it resembles a leaf. We all see it in a different light,” says Syed. She will also be working on excerpts from Paul Auster’s classic novel Brooklyn Follies, playing the character of Lucy.

Syed’s photographs are pegged at Rs 2 lakh.

The exhibition is on till February 7.Contact 46050308