B.S. Shivaraju, aka Cop Shiva, leads a dual life — a tough cop by the daytime and a hobby photographer in his free time. The ultimate result of both his vocation and passion is evident in “My Life is my Message”, Shiva’s first photo exhibition in Delhi, at Art Heritage Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam till October 9. It was the simple love for capturing everyday life in his village that the Bengalurean picked up a camera. “In my free time, I would go to help my cousin at his gallery in Bengaluru. After looking at the work around and sharing insight with many artists, I decided to do something, and photography it was. Without having much of knowledge, I bought a small camera and got started,” shares Shiva. Soon the “small camera” turned into a professional one and his love for capturing daily life transformed into passion to shoot live documentation. “As a policeman, I came across these two subjects — Basavaraju and Vidyasagar. One would dress up as Gandhiji every day and other impersonated famous actor MGR. I found their life so interesting that I decided to document their each day,” he says. Images of Basavaraju riding a bicycle as Mahatma Gandhi and Vidyasagar dressed as MGR are a part of Shiva’s latest collection on display, and now he is preparing for his next assignment. “I want to document the life in rural areas — their people and culture. I want to tell the untold stories that no one knows of,” he ends.
