Contemporary Indian Photography A long read on Indian photography Written by Tanvi Mishra Commissioned by DutchCulture, Centre for International Cooperation. 12-04-2017 1 This long read was produced as part New Cultural Horizon India program of DutchCulture.For more information - [email protected] or check out our website DutchCulture.nl Table of Contents/ Inhoudsopgave INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 4 HISTORY OF INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY ................................................................................. 5 Photography And The Empire ............................................................................................. 5 Adoption By Indian Practitioners ......................................................................................... 6 Advent Of Press Photography And Photojournalism In The 20Th Century ......................... 7 CONTEMPORARY INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRACTICE AND THE LONG TERM DOCUMENTARY PROJECT .......................................................... 12 The Self And The Family As The Protagonist.................................................................... 12 Gender And Body Politics ................................................................................................. 15 Demographic And The Landscape .................................................................................... 18 Fiction, Humour and Post-Photography ............................................................................ 19 PHOTOGRAPHY EDUCATION AND TRAINING .................................................................. 22 MOVEMENTS AND TRENDS ............................................................................................... 23 Opportunities – Press, Freelance And The Gallery ........................................................... 23 Emergence Of The Photo Festival .................................................................................... 29 Funding Opportunities And Available Grants For Photography ......................................... 30 Photography Publications And Online Initiatives ............................................................... 32 Self-Published Books And Collectives .............................................................................. 36 Archives ............................................................................................................................ 37 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 38 ABOUT THE AUTHOR .......................................................................................................... 40 2 This long read was produced as part New Cultural Horizon India program of DutchCulture.For more information - [email protected] or check out our website DutchCulture.nl 3 This long read was produced as part New Cultural Horizon India program of DutchCulture.For more information - [email protected] or check out our website DutchCulture.nl MAPPING CONTEMPORARY INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY FOR DUTCH CULTURE HISTORY OF INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION 1. Photography and the Empire The purpose of this paper is to acquaint Dutch platforms for photography, self-published books The advent of photography in India was concur- in the political history of India. The British Army professionals, engaged with the medium of and collectives that have emerged, signaling new rent to the earliest developments in photography became preoccupied with the confronting the photography, with the developments in photo- directions for emerging practitioners within India in Europe, circa 1840s, owing to the British uprising and photographic responsibilities on graphic practices in India today. This includes a today. regime presiding over the country. The first the part of the officers took a backseat1. Fe- mention of young, emerging practitioners, and practitioners of the medium of photography were alice Beato, an Italian photographer, was one the concerns that populate their practice today. For the benefit of the reader, I have included members of the British Army as well as employ- of the few photographers to capture scenes of Three broad categories have been created in an initial section on the brief history of Indian ees of the British Government, commissioned the aftermath. In the famous photograph, titled order to slot practitioners on the basis of issues photography, so as to give a context about the to document the architectural wealth of India. Interior of Secundrabagh after the Massacre, that are largely emerging in multiple practices. emergence of the practice on the subcontinent. Photography became an efficient, economic April 1858, skeletal remains conspicuously lay in The paper also seeks to familiarize the reader It is important to recognize the conditions and tool to record the architectural and archeologi- the foreground attributing to the death of 2,200 with the trends that have been developing within concerns that preceded the contemporary mo- cal sites, as a source of information about the sepoys who had made it a stronghold during the industry with regards to education, opportu- ment and informed the practice of many photog- land under the control of Queen Victoria and the their siege of the city of Lucknow (Image 1). It nities for photographers with the decline of the raphers mentioned in this paper. This paper is by British Government. The shift in subject matter, is believed to be the first staged photograph, press and the state of the market economy within no means an exhaustive survey of all important from documentation of the land to its people, and that Beato exhumed2 and/or rearranged the the photographic industry as well as the emer- practitioners and artists within photography. The occurred first with the Mutiny of 1857 or First corpses of dead Indian soldiers to increase the gence of the photo festival as an alternate means intent is to highlight issues and subjects that War of Indian Independence, an important event impact of the image. for display, education and discourse with regard emerge within contemporary photographic prac- to the Indian photographic landscape. The paper tice and how the photographic industry in India is also highlights new intiatives such as online responding to these changing concerns. IMAGE 1: Image by Felice Beato Interior of Secundra Bagh, Lucknow from the album ‘Views in Lucknow, Cawnpore and Delhi’ FRONTISPIECE: Image by Sohrab Albumen Print, 1858, Hura 249 x 289 mm, ACP: 98.77.0001(16) From the series ‘Coast’ Courtesy Alkazi Collection of Photography 4 This long read was produced as part New Cultural Horizon India program of DutchCulture.For more information - [email protected] or check out our website DutchCulture.nl 5 This long read was produced as part New Cultural Horizon India program of DutchCulture.For more information - [email protected] or check out our website DutchCulture.nl 2. Adoption by Indian practitioners as well as images of courtesans, all showcasing elements and symbols of power and dominance. IMAGE 2: Image by Lala Deen Dayal In the period following the mutiny, photogra- His aesthetic and technical capabilities had such The Grand Duke Alexander of Russia and Companions after Cheetah Hunt from phy began to be used as a tool; it went beyond finesse that he would gain commissions from ‘A Souvenir from Nawab Sir Asmah Jah, Hyderabad (Deccan) 1895’ pictorial renditions of landscapes and architec- both the Indian as well as British patrons. Deen ture, and was used to document the people, the Dayal focused on the picturesque, much like his Albumen Print, Photographer’s Ref. 9725, Mach 1891, 203 x 270 mm ACP: 97.20.0001(42) places, the culture and traditions of India. western counterparts, which perhaps explains his popularity with the colonial powers. There Courtesy Alkazi Collection of Photography A prominent name at the time was Maharaja are arguments that this reinforced the colonial Sawai Ram Singh II (1833-1880) of Jaipur who gaze already familiar in images by the European came to be known as the first photographer- authors. However, his images are nevertheless prince. He invited artist-photographer T. Murray an important document, photographic as well as from England to his court multiple times and historical, to record the grandeur that existed in used this opportunity to learn from his craft. The the resource-rich 19th century India (Image 2 and Maharaja School of Arts established in Jaipur Image 3). was also the first school in India to teach photog- raphy. The collection of photographic material 3. Advent of press photography and photo- at the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum journalism in the 20th Century consists of 6050 individual prints (including duplicates) contained in 105 albums and 1,941 In the 20th century, as the British stronghold over glass plate negatives containing 2008 images India increased, one of the names that emerged (some plates carry two). It also includes camera prominently in the field of Indian photography equipment. The albums range from the 1860s was that of Homai Vyarawalla (b. 1913). Born to when Sawai Ram Singh II began photographing a Parsi family in Gujarat, Vyarawalla was the first and collecting to the 1970s. The photographic female press photographer in the country. By the processes they encompass are albumen and time Vyarawalla began working for the press in silver gelatin prints, on both printed and