A photograph by Christine Rodgers, depicting a scene in Melli, a town on the West Bengal-Sikkim border in northern India, is currently on display at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition in London. The image, taken in 2024, shows a man at a bank counter late at night.
Rodgers, who was born in Lancashire and lives in London, has spent the last decade trekking in various Himalayan regions, including Bhutan, Nepal, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, and Sikkim. She expressed a passion for the mountains, focusing on walking and camping at altitude.
While Rodgers previously used an Olympus camera, she has since switched to predominantly using her phone for photography, citing a preference for its immediacy. The Melli photograph was one of three she took before leaving the scene, having arrived after midnight while her guide collected passes.
Rodgers noted that Melli was largely dark and deserted, with the exception of the police station and the bank branch. She was initially drawn by the light and colours, then by the stillness of the man, sensing "some kind of tension in the air, caused by a customer waiting there alone at this hour of night." She did not discover the reason for the unease she perceived.