Senior Spotlight: Abdullah Jahangir captures home and belonging

By Shreya Challa     10/1/24 11:18pm

Through Abdullah Jahangir’s camera lens, a photo isn’t just a still image — it’s a moment in time, dynamic and emotional. Working with film in his freshman photography class prompted him to consider photography as more than just snapshots, but rather a form of self-expression and exploration. 

“I like to take pictures of my friends and family, of things I want to document, and of scenes that consciously engage multiple senses of mine at the same time,” Jahangir, a Wiess College senior, said. “I think that people look a bit differently at the camera when they know who’s behind them, and I like my subjects to have an expression of familiarity.” 

Jahangir, who is double majoring in visual and dramatic arts and computer science, hopes to use photography in his senior studio work as an extension of his own perception of the world.

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He considers himself a lens-based artist, focusing on film and photography. This year, Jahangir wants to work with cyanotypes, which are vivid blue and white prints created by exposing UV reactive chemicals to the sun, in addition to long exposure photos and darkroom prints. 

by exposing UV-reactive chemicals to the sun, in addition to long exposure photos and darkroom prints. 

“I feel like photography is perceived as a very static medium,” Jahangir said. “This year, I want my photos to … [go] beyond just capturing moments in time and [transform them] into a more involved experience. 

“I’ll be using audible and olfactory accompaniments,” he continued, “working with scents and making audio collages. I don’t want the audio to be just a description of the picture … I want it to be an accompaniment.”

Jahangir aims to explore themes of his personal identity, belonging and loss. Having grown up in Karachi, Pakistan, his previous work has focused on his interaction with the spaces he inhabits, including a short film about his relationship with the beach.

“I grew up right next to the beach, so I love the sea. Sometimes you only miss things once you don’t have them nearby,” Jahangir said. 

Moving to Houston, a city 50 miles away from the nearest gulf, prompted a homesickness in Jahangir that inspired his freshman film “Between Shores.” The project, he said, grappled with “living here and going to a good university … but also missing home.”

Jahangir also plans to create a short film for his senior studio project, shot entirely in Karachi over winter break. According to Jahangir, he intends the film to be a letter to the city seen through his own experiences and has explored shooting long-exposure self-portraits for the project. 

“I get this neat transparent look, which I think does a good job at capturing how I feel when I dissociate — or when I am missing Karachi so much that I cannot fully exist at Rice,” Jahangir said. “I also get this form of fluid motion, which I feel goes against the perception of photography capturing a moment in time.”

Naomi Doron, Jahangir’s friend, first met him in a photography darkroom their freshman year. According to Doron, Jahangir often looks inward with his photography, shooting from intimate spaces like his room.

“He loved photographing in the garden behind Wiess, with all the sunflowers, and he had a way of taking that space as well and putting a lens on it that you yourself would have never seen as you walked through,” Doron, a Jones College senior, said. “I think he doesn’t photograph sensational things. He finds the quiet and beautiful images in the mundane, and I think that’s really special.”

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