Good Is in Details
Nair’s Black-and-White Shots of Itria, Italy, Have Timeless Appeal
by Fresia Rodriguez Cadavid

A rich brown veil warmly embraces all 43 photographs in fine art photographer Rajesh Nair’s exhibit at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Headquarters Gallery titled "Timeless Experience: An Architectural Journey Through Itria, Italy."

The brown-toned black-and-white photographs capture the architectural and natural landscape of the Itria valley. Resting in the Italian southern region of Apulia, the valley, inhabited by about 7,000 people, holds intact buildings dating back to the 14th century.

All of the images—photographed, printed and framed by Nair—strive to isolate the details of Italian village life to allow viewers to see it for both its beauty and peculiarities.

Nair, a native of Mumbai, India, and a zoologist with formal training in music, took the photographs over the course of a year while living in Cisternino, one of the smallest towns overlooking the valley. The exhibit, Nair’s second since he began photography three years ago at the age of 27, includes photographs of farmhouses, historical buildings and vegetation.

The photographs, virtually all daylight shots excluding people, pull viewers in with their peacefulness and isolation. According to Nair, one of the objectives of his project was to bring attention to the modern yet almost primitive architectural landscape of the valley so people could admire the structures and work toward preserving their existence.

In "La Balaustra," viewers can witness "an evolution of stone" in an edifice’s staircase railing. "I get fascinated by texture," Nair said. The black of the fissures contrasting with the white of the stone—with the brown backdrop—brings out this progression and compels viewers to appreciate all of the visual elements of the staircase.

It is the artist’s focus and framing of the details that tease the viewer, provoking wonderment about what surrounds the photograph’s subject. "La Guinchiera" invites the audience not only to marvel at the perfect coiling shape of the traditional curtain strands used in the area, but also to brush them aside and explore what else they conceal. As Nair captures the sunlight hitting the curtains, the light accentuates a mysterious darkness behind the strands. Nair said that he fears that many years from now, these curtains may be replaced by more modern versions.

In another photograph titled "La Persiana," the artist focuses on the ailing window shutter of an aging dwelling. Nair’s shot encapsulates the stark contrast of the materials—the shutter, its hinges and rungs, the window frame and sill. Nair forces viewers not only to look at the shutter and cherish it, but also to look beyond the shutter—beyond what the artist’s lens captured—tempting us to open it and enter a different world.

In all of the photographs, the brown hues create an element of timelessness. The subjects are as modern as they are historic, and the tones intensify that complex yet complementary duality. This is most evident when looking at the series of trulli photographs. Made of dry, stone slabs and previously built as massive stables, the circular buildings known as trulli are characteristic of the valley. According to Nair, these structures, dating back 700 years, can only be found in the Itria valley and nowhere else in the world. They were once a part of the main farmhouse where a family would live. Today, many have been transformed into bed-and-breakfast inns.

In Nair’s depiction, the structures are nestled in wild vegetation with a calm, sandy sky as the backdrop. Viewers can see rows of stones fitting into the intrinsic roofs with a single stone on top holding the entire structure together. Three such structures are portrayed in Nair’s work named "I Trulli."

In the title piece of the exhibit, "Basilica di San Martino," one of the two night shots in the exhibit, observers can appreciate the romantic and classical architectural nature of Italy’s religious buildings. The blackness of the sky and the light of the basilica and surrounding building embody the elegance of Italian architecture and livelihood of the country’s history.

The artist said that in many ways, the exhibit is deceiving because one doesn’t see what is around the buildings. "[It] looks like a wonderful place, but the local townspeople are building illegal structures all around them, structures that shouldn’t be there and are taking over," Nair said.

According to Wendy Wiener, curatorial assistant at the museum, 1,100 visitors are expected to make their way through Nair’s exhibit while it is on display.

At his first exhibit in Italy, which was sold out, Nair was unable to attend because of preparations for an upcoming show, but he invited viewers to leave comments about what they thought about his work. He recalled that people said they looked forward to going back and looking at the window depicted in "La Persiana," adding that they were appreciative of the fact that he focused on the details townspeople usually ignored.

Visitors also thanked Nair for "a splendid homage to our land" and for "showing these objects of beauty or charm." These comments capture the essence of what viewers will see in Nair’s Washington exhibit: beauty, charm and veneration to detail.

"Timeless Experience: An Architectural Journey Through Itria, Italy, Photographs by Rajesh Nair" runs through April 2 at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Headquarters Gallery at 1735 New York Ave., NW. For more information, please call (202) 626-7369 or visit www.theoctagon.org.

Fresia Rodriguez Cadavid is a freelance writer in Largo, Md.