ACCESS TO CONTEXT

Hermes Lucas’ “Access to Context” series presents exclusive insights into the functioning of the Supreme Court of Lahore in Pakistan, an extraordinarily rare access kindly provided by the Lord Chief Justice and his representatives. While presenting to an international mission the important workings of a court often under siege in their protected compound – including interactions in all matters, such as citizens’ rights and fundamental civil liberties, tensions between civil and military authorities – Hermes Lucas reveals, as he does in all his work, a human instinct beneath the seeming constraint of the endeavour. Catching fleeting glances, registering the reactions and emotions plainly visible in the eyes of those on different sides of the civil liberties debate, including privileged attorneys, prosecution teams, claimants, defendants, judges and victims, Hermes uncovers a truth existent in every place that suffers the presence of life – the reality of beauty and dignity, claimed, owned, borrowed or stolen, prevailing and fundamental on a universal plane.