Wall art by Raki Nikahetiya

Alfred Stieglitz once said that ‘in photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.’ Raki Nikahetiya started to tread this fine line at 23. Born in Sri Lanka, Raki and his parents left the country during times of unrest. He was five. They moved to Austria: reality ruptured between two cultural poles. Between Kandy and Vienna, language, friendship, family and love clashed and overlapped, as school was steadily completed. He studied for some time in Maastricht. In the Netherlands, the binary was broken and a delicious new reality prevailed: uncovered and uncluttered. Raki felt the need to capture moments. He was somewhere new and wanted to freeze and split the vibrancy, the inertia, the possibility. On a Saturday in spring, he went to a flea market and got his first camera. 55 euros. Kodak. Simple and digital. Nothing has since been overlooked. Raki worked as a journalist for some time. He wrote and he took photos. Politicians, local artists, events, interviews. He wanted to do more. Express more; trace and transcend appearance to convey something unique and universal. His occupation remains the subtle and unseen. He wants to share finite fragments of time. Fragments which are perceived by many eyes, in many ways, from many different angles. But captured with one lens.