AjabShahar.org

I have been part of the Kabir Project for the last 15 years or so in the capacity of a designer, strategist and photographer. Our most recent obsession and offering is an online universe of poetry and music. It is an effort to create a home for a large volume of mystic poetry, music and conversations conceptualized as a wondrous city where one can lose and find oneself. Inspired by the images in the poetry itself, the artworks evoke palimpsests of the Body and the City; Words and Images;  Form and Emptiness; Sound and Silence. The visual language while intricate and detailed is subtle and monochromatic so as to invite people to focus on the true gems - which are the songs, conversations, stories and people that inhabit this space. Other key navigation features of the site evoke an ulat (upside-down) universe, hinting at the nature of this knowledge archive as something thats asking to be inverted, the gaze turned from outside to the wisdom that comes from experience within one's own body-city.

Ajab Shahar celebrates the living traditions of Bhakti, Sufi and Baul traditions. This project culminates 15 years of research and documentation with singers, scholars and seekers of these spiritual traditions. On most websites one is bombarded with a multitude of information with the belief that more is better. The intention of Ajab Shahar is to encourage people to slow down and reflect - so we’ve chosen to paroso (serve) one story, one song, one article at a time. Explore www.AjabShahar.org