Karolina Wojtasik
Opening: Dec 5th
The Index Gallery, 7350 NE 2nd Ave, Little River, 33138

“Sundara: Faces of India,” is a photography series by Polish-born Karolina Wajtosik.

[ {Sundara}, which means “beautiful” in Sanskrit, features portraits taken by Wojtasik during a two-month sojourn in India. She traveled from the south up to Nepal. During her travels, she stayed with various families.  Most of the portraits in the exhibit are of the people who allowed Wojtasik into their inner sanctum. ]

This series celebrates their beauty and compassion, she captures their elegance as in a painting in her portraiture

The portraits are of men, women, and children. Simple people with extraordinary characteristics and sense of self. There are no street scenes here.

[ No images of temples, beggars or prostitutes, the likes of which are displayed ubiquitously in other India-themed exhibits.]

Instead the subjects are shot from the chest up, standing before organic backgrounds that show the magnificence of an Indian sky or the rustic construction of the subjects’ dwellings.

The transcendence of poverty is evident in the exhibit’s images. That’s not to say that the living conditions are acceptable to Westerners, but more so, tolerable. Even Wojtasik was struck by the disparity of lifestyles between the East and the West. “Like many travelers who visit India from the West,” says Wojtasik, “it was a life-changing experience, particularly considering the capitalistically driven lifestyle that Westerners live — focused on money, commerce, things.”