Through the lens of love, fear and faith

 A collection of evocative colour photographs by Durban teacher Ernest Pillay are on display at the Durban Art Gallery until April 24.

Entitled BC: Through the Lens of Love, Fear and Faith, the photographs capture the horror, fear, destruction and majesty of the earthquake in Napal in 2015 from the vantage point of the Everest Base Camp.

Pillay’s photographs journal his extraordinary first-hand experience of the earthquake – capturing both the physical enormity and his intrinsically personal response to this phenomenal destructive act of nature.

Pillay, who teaches design at Ganges Secondary, was travelling to Tibet with his wife with the intention of climbing Everest.

His wife suffered from severe altitude sickness and was sent via helicopter to hospital, leaving Pillay to continue to the assent with his guide, alone.

He was in a mountain cabin at the Tokla Pass with the earthquake struck. He was physically unharmed, but profoundly moved by his experience when the earthquake shook the mountains, rained down boulders, slush and mud, and transformed the landscape into a sight reminiscent of an eerie desolate moonscape.

It was a defining moment in his life – allowing him to have some life-affirming realisations and observations.

“There was a profound sense of connectedness,” considers Pillay, “I was acutely aware of the cycles of life. I was also reminded that love over rides all fear and learned behaviour.

Life is not a linear reality, it is repetitive and cyclic, and for a while, oxygen and water become all that matters. We only grow as human beings if we overcome the most severe conditions and we cannot walk this path in the comfort of our own homes,” he said.

The Durban Art Gallery is open seven days a week: Monday to Saturday from 8.30am until 4pm, and Sundays from 11am until 4pm. Entry is free and all are welcome!

Do you want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message with your name and surname to 061 718 4438.

Please read our WhatsApp broadcast list disclaimer.
Join us on BBM at 59015786
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.