Samiksha Chaudhary believes objects function as memory keepers and he found himself reliving these memories through photography. This all began in lockdown when Chaudhary found himself stuck in Mumbai, whilst his parents were back home at Calcutta. Chaudhary found this time lonely as he missed his parents, therefore he aimed to revive and relive little moments which were created by these objects. He released a set of photographs taken of these objects as part of a bigger collection which he previously shot during 2019 whilst being at home with his parents. Chaudhary found photography to be a way of tracing back memories all the way to his childhood. It was also a way to feel closer to his parents and a way to hold onto old memories. Each of his unique objects tells a story which takes him back to his home. Chaudhary wishs to capture the object’s value to his personal history, rather than the value of them.These objects create a mental map to his childhood and they are also a way of knowing his families history. With the objects laid out they all tell a story. They capture a lifetime within them, not only his own but also that of his parents and relatives.

“A wedding gift, this wooden doll, my mother told me, held a small vial of perfume. The showcases in our home, when I was growing up, were always full of such curios – some inherited, some received as gifts or others collected patiently, one item at a time, by my parents (mostly Maa),” – Chirodeep.

This is a picture of the silver bowl that originally belonged to Durgamoyi Roy, his mother’s maternal grandmother and was a gift to his mother to celebrate seeing her great-grandson for the first time. The bowl, probably 100 years old now, has been with his parents for as long as he has been around and continues to exist as a daily use object at his home.

How will I respond?

To respond to this photographer I plan to photograph old objects which hold meaning to my relatives, specifically my grandmother. I will take these photographs on a plain background