Snow

Kashmir has been at the centre of disputes between India, Pakistan, and China since the partition of India and dissolution of the British Raj in 1947. Each country has laid claim to the land despite the persistent struggles for self-determination of those who inhabit the region. Snow documents Sohrab Hura’s repeated visits to the Indian-administered region of Kashmir over a five-year period, recording its passage through the three distinct phases of its winter: Chillai Kalan (harsh cold), Chillai Khurd (small cold), and Chillai Bache (baby cold).

Hura’s images trace the progression of these phases, with snowmelt evoking the wearing down of illusions and continual changes of the contested state. Across photographs of Kashmir’s landscapes and communities, picturesque imagery often gives way to residual markers of conflict and violence. Kashmir has been promoted as a paradisical tourist destination to Indian nationals, and above all as a place they can experience snow. All the while it has remained one of the most heavily militarised regions in the world. This dichotomy between beauty and brutality serves as Hura’s inspiration for the project, which is the first in a pair of twin publications exploring the social, economic, and political landscapes of Kashmir, in Snow, and Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, in a forthcoming volume, through the extremity of their seasons.