“Validation is nice, but do not live for it.“ – Joanna Canara

Joanna Canara is a photographer based in Gujarat, India. Her work circumvallates around a gritty vibe. Canara brings her pictures to life by using new techniques of post-processing. “Post-processing is my favorite part. It takes me to a different place mentally. I edit one picture then it is there, lying in my gallery. I revisit it after days, I re-edit, and it continues till it makes me feel something immensely deep.”

Canara’s work has the power to move your soul, looking at her work is a whole new worldliness.

She started off photography seven years ago just for fun, “I started clicking pictures of the sky and flowers and oh, pictures of my cat. I loved the post-processing part. I loved to add dark tones to my pictures. Till date, my family does not understand why I love such a dark vibe.”

Canara’s pictures are brought to life by her soft yet dark tones. She gratifies a hazy, blurry and soft aesthetic; “I feel that this is my interpretation of reality” says Canara.

Canara indulges in capturing the mundane activities around her, while traveling from home to her workplace; “Most of the things that I click are very mediocre- the things I see while waiting for my bus, the things I see from the bus, interesting shadows, cute flowers, beautiful skies- basically everything that I find interesting. I click anything and everything.” She mostly shoots on her phone, she believes that one doesn’t need expensive gear to make a picture come to life.

“Also, I try not to think, if people on social media will like it or not. If it speaks to me, if my eyes and my mind like it, I post it.”

Canara has always worked alone, “As a child, I did not have many friends and I preferred spending time making art and reading the dictionary for fun. Except for the dictionary bit, everything else has been carried forward into my adulthood. I like making art alone.” She finds calm and solace by shooting self-portraits and the current situation has given her ample time to explore.

“My art is to distract myself from the current world. It is my escape. I do it for fun and hence there’s no target age group, neither does it make a difference in the current world. If people look at my art and feel something even for a passing, fleeting, brief moment, that’s enough.”

All photos by Joanna Canara.

Text by Pallavi Shankar.

Curated by Pallavi Shankar.