Ibrahim Ahmed, aka ‘Kashmirwala’, utilises his camera as a tool to initiate conversations with communities.
Inspired by the stories of his great grandfather Faisal Kashmirwala, a travel pioneer in the 1940s, Ibrahim seeks to connect people. Rather than creating work upon reflection of an experience, instead he orchestrates opportunities to have new adventures and throws himself into them, allowing for the art to evolve out of these experiences as a direct consequence.
Starting out in the commercial world as a music video director, creating aspirational images for independent artists; due to the low-budget nature of the jobs Ibrahim relied heavily on the skills of his DOP. And though he developed considerable skill in manipulating video in post-production, he never really felt the moment was his own while someone else was holding the lens. This desire to become more involved with his subjects drove him towards photography.
Though the output of his work may exist in photographic, film, or book form, for Ibrahim; ‘people’ are his medium. And he views his work as a train of thought that ties these momentary adventures together.