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The photography of Ram Rahman can easily be said to fall predominantly into two categories: portraits and urban landscapes. Of the portraits, both posed and spontaneous, surely the more prominent are those of artists, socialites and politicians. This is not surprising as Ram

was raised within a milieu where culture and politics mixed freely in the drawing rooms of New Delhi. In fact, the intersection of conversational hand gestures, floor cushions and glasses of Scotch is another of his most re-visited subjects. Yet it is the casually posed portraits of artist friends and acquaintances that prove Ram’s mettle, his adroit use of mise-en-scène to evoke the unique qualities of his subjects his forte.

Ram’s camera has come to acknowledge a particular image of India’s cities, and particularly Delhi. The strange (but not surreal) confluence of people, architecture, signage and activity that one finds in urban India fits easily into Ram’s viewfinder, while his compositional style savours the flattening, foreshortening and collapsing of perspectives that happen readily in the black-and-white print. Ram delights in the subtle absurdities to be found in these juxtapositions, exploiting the opportunity to discover something about what might make Indians tick. Raised and still based in New Delhi, India’s capital and political engine, Ram has a special interest in the symbols of politics as they enter popular culture, the highly visual markers of both parties and players that get mixed into the cacophony of the streets, revealing playful readings of the public Indian psyche.

Two pictures bring together succinctly these two dominant strains in Ram’s work. In portraits of the photographer Raghubir Singh and the painter Bhupen Khakhar, Ram illustrates something of each man’s attitude towards his own artistic practice and something of what Ram has learned from both and incorporated into his own work. Both portraits of artistic mentors use public art as props and sets, weave irony with a slightly morose sense of humour, and rely on their subjects’ collaboration in constructing this rebus.

Singh’s portrait comes from a time before the photographic image dominated the facades of urban India, when the hand-painted poster and hoarding was the lingua franca of commerce. Singh’s slightly smirking expression acknowledges the in-between status of his own craft, where the making of a “New Art” will not be by the “Painter Artist” but by technological means, his equipment slung prominently from his neck. Khakhar’s portrait is more polemical, seating a father figure to many in the lap of the Father of the Nation. Khakhar, realizing the gravitas of the situation, doesn’t push his luck by camping it up (as he had been known to do on many occasions). Instead, he poses rather demurely, allowing a dramatic difference in scale and a contemplative glance to speak about personal battles, historical achievements, and the uses and abuses of patriarchies. Both portraits seem shot on-the-run, as if a spontaneous stop during a day of outings with friends, certainly not weighted by premeditation. With both, Ram achieves a characteristic balance of the playful with the sombre, the visual with the thoughtful, and the deeply personal with the demandingly public.

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Contemporary Indian photography in its current avatar is a child of its earlier history. For many years, photojournalism was not

only the genre where a professional was able to earn a living, it was a platform for showcasing work to a very wide audience. In the first half of the last century, there was a fairly widespread ‘pictorialist’ tradition, where photographers with artistic ambitions found a home. After independence, the new industries provided a base for a developing industrial and advertising photography scene. But never through all those years was photography afforded a place in the nascent art gallery scene.

For many years, the debate on ‘is photography an art form’ continued in India, despite having died a natural death decades ago in Europe and the US. The work of mid-century photographers like Sunil Janah and Margaret Bourke-White vanished from public view with the magazines they were published in. The few books they had done also went out of print. Few people even know of the work done in India during the war years by Cecil Beaton. Edward Steichen’s ‘The Family of Man’ presented by The New York Museum of Modern Art in the fifties toured five cities in India. Ironically, the one known Indian photograph was by Satyajit Ray, and it was a black and white still from ‘Pather Panchali’, with actors representing a village family! This tour had a huge impact in India and led to a desi version of the show called ‘Images of India’ with 250 images in 1960. The pioneering Marg devoted an entire issue to this show. It showcased a mix of both the pictorialists and hard core photojournalists on one platform – Al Syed, R.J. Chinwalla, J.N. Unwalla, Jitendra Arya, and Sunil Janah, amongst many others. But this is, in many ways, a ‘lost’ history of Indian photography.

The increasing controls on the economy in the sixties, and import and customs regulations imposed a severe restriction on the availability of

cameras, lenses and equipment and film and photo chemistry. The generation which came of age then had to struggle to obtain the tools of the medium and it usually implied a fairly privileged social background. A medium known across the world as a revolutionary, democratic ‘peoples’ medium, became an exclusive preserve in India. This had a severely limiting effect on practice and specially on any critical or theoretical discourse. The contrast with cinema, its sister medium, and its trajectory in the subcontinent, could not have been sharper. The Illustrated Weekly of India was the main journal to showcase photography in those years and was beautifully printed in photogravure.

Some Indian artists of the post-independence generation had also worked with the photographic medium in the sixties – Krishen Khanna, Jyoti Bhatt, Tyeb Mehta and of course M.F. Husain, who made his mark on every medium he touched, including cinema. But their photography always remained in the shadows of their painting. The art critic Richard Bartholomew was a serious photographer, but his work was not seen in public. Nasreen Mohamedi’s graphic and minimalist black and white photos were an extension of her spare vision in the real world. They were also known to a limited audience. In recent years they have had a new life in the gallery world as posthumous prints.

In the later sixties a handful of photographers from the photojournalist stream began to gain international critical attention. Kishore Parekh, S. Paul, Raghu Rai, Raghubir Singh were among the better known. The brothers T.S. Nagarajan and T.S. Satyan produced work both in North and South India. This generation was able to place its work in international publications through the growing agency networks, besides working for national publications or government agencies. Raghubir uniquely, began shooting only in colour, and emigrated in the seventies. Living in France, he

Photography : A Sharper Focus*

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enjoyed the advantage of both exposure and access to a sophisticated photography culture in Europe and specially the US. There were photography studios in many Indian cities which spawned entire families and generations of photographers – Delhi Photo Studios, Kinsey Brothers, and Mahatta’s in Delhi, Mitter Bedi in Bombay, G.K.Vale in Bangalore to name a few. These have an important place in our photo history and remain to be critically assessed.

Coming to the seventies, Richard Bartholomew’s rebellious son Pablo decided school was not for him and started photographing in his late teens. Photographing his contemporaries, theatre in Delhi, cinema in Bombay, the hippie and druggie culture in Delhi and Bombay, he charted his own path, and started photojournalist work for international agencies. Along with my immediate contemporaries Ketaki Seth, Sooni Taraporewala, and Mira Nair, I started studying photography and photography history in formal programmes in the US starting in the mid-seventies. I think we were amongst the first to be exposed to the American documentary tradition and its increasing presence in the gallery scene. Mira, of course, shifted mediums and remained in the US.

We were followed a few years later by Dayanita Singh who studied at the ICP in New York and assisted photojournalist Mary Ellen Mark. This was in contrast to the earlier generation (Kishore Parekh had formal training in California), who were mainly self-trained. We were all working on our own independent projects in the eighties. I earned a living as an architectural photographer, while Dayanita did photojournalism.

The Alkazi’s Art Heritage Gallery in Delhi would show photography off and on. There was very little support then for exhibitions and many of us did a few on our own. The Piramal Gallery opened at the NCPA in Bombay and was the only one to be dedicated to the medium. By the late eighties, we were selling our prints for Rs 1200 – that is, when we did sell any! This group is now termed ‘independent photographers’ as it was not linked full time to either publications or agencies and also pursued its own projects.

The boom in the American photography gallery market started in the mid-seventies, with numerous exclusively photographic galleries opening across the US. Much of this showcased work coming out of the very strong American documentary tradition, and most of it was in black and white. American art museums had strong photography departments, which supported curators, collecting and publishing. The power and impact that the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York had on the cultural scene was almost unprecedented. It was only later, in the eighties and nineties, that art galleries who had painters and sculptors on their rosters, began to add photographers too. This was also when artists coming out of art school began using photography and later video as their primary medium. Many found it a perfect medium for conceptual work, far removed from its earlier documentary lineage. In fact, in the nineties it almost seemed as though galleries and museums across America were only showing photography.

The opening of the Indian economy in the last decade has had a major impact. Cameras and equipment were allowed entry and suddenly the previous lack of access to equipment vanished. The market in both amateur and professional cameras and processing machines exploded, fuelled by the growing buying power of an expanding middle class. The demands of the advertising industry also exploded. The fashion industry became more high profile and professional and opened a new arena, particularly for younger photographers.

Simultaneously, the photo world had begun to shift from film to digital imaging. This was accompanied by India’s boom in the IT industry. Personal computers, scanners and printers became widely available. Mobile phone cameras too became ubiquitous. Suddenly, photography became a democratic medium. Numerous glossy amateur photography magazines entered the scene, and business trade fairs proliferated across India. This has led to a complete change in the photographic culture of the subcontinent. Photojournalism, which was always powerful, now has to contend with the explosive growth of television news channels and their instant image culture.

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In the art world, artists followed the western trajectory; many trained in art schools began using lens based media which had now become easily accessible. Digital printing technology with large format and archival papers and inks enabled rapid printing just as silver film and papers were becoming extinct. The internet allowed young artists and art students access to gallery and magazine sites across the world, and unlike earlier generations, younger artists were instantly plugged in to developments across the world, and also to the photo world.

Newspapers and magazines rarely publish any photographs which deal with the widespread social problems plaguing the country. Rural India has virtually vanished from our sight and even the urban India we see is only of interest to the consuming classes. The huge Maoist insurgencies, revolts against the SEZs or caste uprisings like the recent Rajasthan events make only a token appearance.

From the late nineties, international biennale and exhibition curators started descending en masse to look for artists to place in their increasingly competitive exhibitions, showcasing their own visions and take on what was happening in the art world. Previously marginalised cultures became more fashionable to showcase in the exploding marketplace. It was no coincidence that biennales and nation specific exhibitions started exploding in countries newly opening up to global business and lucrative arms deals.

There has been a growing debate in Indian art circles on a ‘Biennale Aesthetic’ being imposed on art practice here which is leading to production of work which is slick, easily slotting into a new orientalism, now in its consumerist global market avatar. In photography circles, the previous generation was accused of being purveyors of an ‘exotic’ fakir filled India steeped in colourful riverside rituals, or quaint Bollywood – this was the India in demand around the world. Is it then surprising that the demand for images now is for the ‘new’ middle class and elite young India – consumers of Chanel, Nokia, Honda, readers of Indian editions of Elle, Conde Nast Traveller or L’Officiel? Do these images provide a reassurance

that the world is becoming less complex and differentiated and more comfortably mono-cultural? Photography and video have become the ‘new media’ for the international art market to discover.

The boom in the contemporary Indian art market has had a decisive impact on what one can call ‘art’ photography for lack of a better word. Painting has become hugely expensive. Younger collectors are now buying photography, partly because it is cheaper, partly because many have studied in the West and are aware of the position of photography in the world market. It has become fashionable to collect. Galleries and collectors are learning the lingo of limited editions, archival printing and provenance. The more serious are beginning to search out earlier bodies of work like the interiors by T.S. Satyan.

The entry of photography in the art gallery scene here was facilitated by artists who started using the medium. Pushpamala started making performance based work in collaboration with still photographers, developing from her interest in cinema history. More recently she has evolved an elaborate practice of photographic image making which reinterprets ethnographic, press and popular historical photography and painting. Anita Dube has used the medium as an extension of her object based work which has often used popular ritual ephemera in a startlingly radical formal vocabulary. Their photography was shown by galleries which had already exhibited their art.

Peter Nagy has a more personal interest in the medium as a curator and began showing photographs in lively group shows in his Nature Morte gallery which had numerous avatars before settling down in Niti Bagh in Delhi. ‘Photosphere’ was a breakthrough exhibition he curated in a trashed Golf Links house in 2003. Nature Morte is one gallery which has regularly shown photography.

Younger generation artists like Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kallat, Riyas Komu, the Raqs Collective began making photographs while senior Vivan Sundaram reinterpreted his grandfather Umrao Singh’s family photographs in a series of digital photomontages playing on personal and art

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historical themes. Ranbir Kaleka also ventured into still photographic imagery besides his elaborately constructed video work.What this led to was a burst of imagery in the galleries quite unlike documentary photography which had formed the spine of Indian photo culture. Younger artists like Tejal Shah started making images of performance tableaux of sexual transgressions. Gigi Scaria used subtle digital manipulation in documentary images. Art critics, already familiar with the oeuvre of these artists, found it easier to write on their work. The critical discourse on straight or documentary photography or any writing on recent photo history though has remained dismal. In India, the documentary tradition of the photojournalists or the independent photographers rarely entered the new gallery scene. The few exhibitions which showcased this work were usually ‘issue’ based.

One peculiar result of the experience of a few of our younger documentary photographers being included in exhibitions abroad has been the shift in their work to more ‘personal’ or ‘self-expressive’ forms, almost as though the photograph as document was less artistic. We have also remained relatively cut off from Asian photography. Few have seen the amazing explosion of Chinese photography which has been supported by the proliferation of sophisticated photography schools across China. The long history of contemporary Japanese photography is also relatively unknown. Maybe there will be a more Asian connect to our photography following on the heel of the art scene experience.

In the last five years there has been an increasing buzz both in India and worldwide. The Netherlands Noorderlicht Photo festival focused on India a couple of years ago. Dayanita Singh had a major museum show at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. I had one at the Cleveland Museum. This year the Photography Festival in Arles had a major focus on India, including shows by Raghu Rai, Pablo Bartholomew, Dayanita Singh, Anay Mann, Umrao Singh, Sunil Gupta and a historical collection from Ebrahim Alkazi’s huge archive of early Indian photography. Raghubir Singh’s work has had numerous appearances since his premature death. The Newark Museum in the US opened the

biggest show of contemporary Indian photography and video in mid-September. This will travel to the NGMA next year. Marg will be publishing the accompanying book. Sunil Gupta, photographer curator, is curating a big group show for the Vadehra Gallery in March of next year. There have been symposia inviting Indian photographers to MoMA in New York, the Tate Modern in London, London Photo Fest, and at Newark and Harvard in the US.

Newer Galleries like Bodhi are building a roster of photographers including those from the documentary tradition and publishing elaborate catalogues. A collective multi-city gallery, Tasveer, has started operating in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta and is solely dedicated to photography. However, Alkazi’s Sepia Gallery which has become a fixture in the New York photo scene, has shown very few contemporary Indian photographers. And the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi and Mumbai has a handful of photographs in its collections and no proper acquisition policy.

From a situation of being a pariah, photography is now at least being talked about as ‘the next big thing’ on the Indian market. The operative word is ‘market’. But we will need a much broader based expansion of publication, education, critical and historical theory for our photographic culture to emerge as a truly powerful cultural force.

* First published in Seminar No. 578, A Shifting Canvas, October, 2007

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One-man shows• 2008 Bioscope, Bodhi Art, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi• 2006 Apparao Infinity, Chennai• 2003 Photo Studio/Cutouts, India International Center, New Delhi• 2002 Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio• 2000 Admit One Gallery, New York.• 1999 Galerie Foundation for Indian Arts, Amsterdam.• 1998 Gallery at 678, New York• 1992 Gallery Chemould, Bombay• 1988 Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi• 1978 Triveni Gallery, New Delhi• 1977 Brunswick Public Library, Brunswick, Maine• 1977 Rotch Visual Collections, MIT, Cambridge

Group shows (selected)• 2007 India: Public Places, Private Spaces, The Newark Museum• 2007 I fear, I believe, I desire, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, Curated by Gayatri Sinha, Catalogue• 2007 Making History Our Own, SAHMAT, AIFACS, New Delhi• 2004 Middle Age Spread, National Museum, New Delhi• 2003 Faces, Sepia International, New York• 2003 subTerrain, artworks in the cityfold, House of World Cultures, Berlin• 2003 Heat: Moving Picture Visions, Phantasms and Nightmares, Bose Pacia Modern, New York ( also curated)• 2003 Ways of Resisting, Sahmat, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi• 2003 A Celebration of Independence, Jindal Center, New Delhi• 2002 Home, Street, Shrine, Bazaar, Museum, Manchester Art Gallery• 2001 Alumni Choice, Yale University School of Art, New Haven• 2001 Kitsch Kitsch Hota Hai, Presented by Gallery Espace, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi• 2001 HOME? Crosscurrents in Contemporary South Asian/American Art, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA• 2001 Context as Content - Museum as Metaphor, The Museum of Fine Arts, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Catalogue• 2000 Art Folio, Chandigarh• 2000 Kala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai• 2000 Serendipity, Japan Foundation, Tokyo,Catalogue• 1999 Woman/Goddess, British Council, New Delhi,Catalogue• 1999 Sampling, Ronald Feldman Fine Art, New York• 1999 Nature Morte, New Delhi• 1999 Edge of the Century, Max Mueller Bhavan, Delhi, Catalogue• 1998 A Common Wealth of Art, National Art Gallery of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,Catalogue• 1997 Divine Façades Views of Indian Architecture, Catalogue (An Impressions Gallery, York, Travelling Show) Queens Hall, Hexham/ mac, Birmingham/ Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham/ Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh/ Impressions Gallery, York/ Pitshanger Manor Museum, London• 1997 Gift for India, SAHMAT, Catalogue Rabindra Bhavan,New Delhi, Chemould Gallery, Bombay• 1996 3rd All India Photography Exhibition All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi and Chandigarh.

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• 1995 Postcards for Gandhi. SAHMAT’s Exhibition, Catalogue Vadehra Gallery, Delhi/ Pundole Art Gallery, Bombay/ Gallerie 88, Calcutta/ Contemporary Art Gallery, Ahmedabad/ Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore/ Alliance Francais, Madras/ Bose-Pacia Gallery, Soho, New York.• 1990 An Economy of Signs: Contemporary Indian Photography. (A Photographers’ Gallery, London, Travelling Show) The Mead Gallery, Coventry/ Ipswich Museum and Art Gallery/ Viewpoint Gallery, Salford, Manchester/Collins Gallery, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow/ Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield/ The Photographers’ Gallery, London• 1989 Artists Alert, SAHMAT Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi• 1987 Pratibimb: Photography in India. Moscow, Vilnius• 1977 A+A Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven• 1977 Panopticon Gallery of Photography, Boston• 1977 Creative Photography Gallery, MIT, Cambridge

Books • 2007 India: Public Places, Private Spaces. Gayatri Sinha and Paul Sternberger. Marg and Newark Museum. • 2005 Building With Light, The International History of Architectural Photography. Robert Elwall, RIBA and Merell.• 2005 Tiranga: A Celebration of the National Flag. Edited by Vijay and Samar Singh Jodha.• 2004 Middle Age Spread. Edited by Gayatri Sinha, National Museum, New Delhi.• 2003 India: A National Culture? Photo essay. Edited by Geeti Sen, Sage publications, New Delhi.• 2002 Dome Over India: The Rashtrapati Bhavan (Edwin Lutyens’ Viceroys Palace.) Published by India Book House & The President’s Secretariat. Text by Aman Nath.• 1998 Legacies for the Future, Contemporary Architecture in Islamic Societies, The Aga Khan Award for Architecture Published by Thames and Hudson, London. Edited by Cynthia C. Davidson.• 1996 Charles Correa, Thames and Hudson, London. Essay by Kenneth Frampton.• Addressing Gandhi, Published by Sahmat.• 1994 Indiamodern, Phaidon, London.• 1993 Beautiful Homes of India, Architecture + Design, India. Satish Gujral: In his own words• 1993 Architecture for a Changing World. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1993. Published by the Aga Khan Award, Geneva.• 1993 Raj Rewal, Concept Media, Singapore.• 1990 An Economy of Signs: Contemporary Indian Photography Published by Rivers Oram Press, London and Boston. Edited by Sunil Gupta, Essay by Saleem Kidwai, afterword by Ram Rahman.• 1988 India, Published by the Festival of India in English and Japanese.• 1987 Pratibimb: Photography in India, Festival of India, New Delhi. English and Russian editions.• 1987 Vistara: The Architecture of India, Festival of India, New Delhi. English, Russian and Japanese editions.• 1986 The Architecture of India, Electa Moniteur, Paris and Milan. English and French editions.

Symposia and LecturesMoMA, Mueum of Modern Art, New YorkTate Modern, LondonThe Asia Society, New YorkThe Newark Museum, NewarkNational Museum, New DelhiKala Bhavan, Santiniketan

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2 Ramlila Procession, Ramlila Ground, Delhi, 1980’s 3 Water Fountain, Bhairon Mandir, Purana Qila, Delhi 1997 4 Raghubir Singh, Delhi, 1982 (Above) Bhupen Khakhar, Delhi, 1995 (Below) 6 Gomateshwara, Sravanabelagola, 1975 7 Paris, 1992 8 Mala Singh’s Birthday, Delhi, 1999 (Above) Mala Singh’s Birthday, Akhilesh and Bitti Mittal as Maulana Azad and Begum, Delhi, 1999 (Below) 9 Narasimha Rao, Delhi, 1996 10 Fairground Entrance Gate, Red Fort, 1990’s 11 Mahabalipuram, 1975 12 Juice Stand, Red Fort Grounds, Delhi, 1980’s 13 Backstage, Fashion Show, Delhi, 1990’s 14 Exhibition, Red Fort Grounds, Delhi, 1980’s 15 Dara Singh, Ring Road, Delhi, 1983 16 Red Fort Grounds, Delhi, 1980’s 17 Fortune Teller, Netaji Subhash Park, Delhi, 1980’s 18 Stalin, Ernakulum, 1987 19 Raghubir Singh, Delhi, 1982 20 Ahmedabad, 1992 21 Ambedkar, Red Fort Rally, Delhi, 1993 22 Red Fort Grounds, Delhi, 1988 23 Indira Gandhi, Delhi, 1989 24 Lunch Break Near Turkman Gate, Delhi, 1980’s 25 Sridevi, Red Fort Lawns, Delhi, 1980’s 26 Sravanabelagola, 1984 27 Mela, Red Fort Lawns, Delhi, 1980’s 28 Gents Urinal, Delhi, 1991 29 Barakhamba Road, Delhi, 1994 30 KP Unnikrishnan, Mala Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Naveen Patnaik, Delhi, 1980’s 31 Ashok Nehru as Jawaharlal Nehru, Lalit Nirula as Karunanidhi and Bernard Imhasly as Ottavio Quatrocchi, Mala Singh Birthday, Delhi, 1999 32 Bridegroom, Indore Outskirts, 1998 33 Pankaj Mehta Wedding, Delhi, 1992 34 William Bissell Baraat Party, Janpath, Delhi, 2000 35 William Bissell Baraat Party, Janpath, Delhi, 2000 36 Queen Victoria, Jodhpur, 1992 37 Lucknow, 1993 38 Capital Studios, Connaught Place, Delhi, 1986 39 Gate, Hyderabad, 1983 40 Rajat Sharma, Sitaram Yechury, Manmohan Singh, Iftar, Delhi, 1994 41 Tejbir Singh Asleep, Sujan Singh Park, Delhi, 1991 42 Belur, Karnataka, 1984 43 Belur, Karnataka, 1984 44 Delhi, 1989 45 Ernakulum, 1987 46 Bhavai Actor, Delhi, 1983 47 Bhavai Actor, Delhi, 1983 48 Bhavai Actor, Delhi, 1983 49 Bhavai Actor, Delhi, 1983 50 Priti Paul, Delhi, 1997 51 Mehndi Party, Devigarh, 2004 52 1857 Gravestone, Lothian Cemetery, Delhi, 1990 (Above)

52 Queen Mary’s Avenue Sign, Pappu’s Pan Shop, Rafi Marg, Delhi, 1994 (Below) 53 Home and Graves, Lothian Cemetary, Delhi, 1990 54 Wrestlers, Dangal Maidan, Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1995 55 President’s Bodyguard, Rashtrapati Bhavan Steps, Delhi, 2003 56 Election Meeting, Rohtak, 1989 57 Devi Lal Rising in Elevator to Address Election Meeting, Rohtak, 1989 58 Wrestler, Neemrana, 1999 59 Wrestler, Neemrana, 1999 60 Wrestler, Delhi, 1993 61 Victorious Wrestler, Dangal Maidan, Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1995 62 Wrestler, Dangal Maidan, Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1992 63 Wrestlers, Dangal Maidan, Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1992 64 Wrestlers, Dangal Maidan, Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1995 65 Namaaz Break, Dangal Maidan, Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1995 66 Srinagar, 1990 67 Srinagar, 1990 68 Akbar Ladakhi, Leh, 1987 69 Tshering Norbu, Leh, 1990 70 Rizong, Ladakh, 1987 71 Id Musicians, Leh, 1988 72 The Lamu of Sabu, Ladakh, 1987 73 The Lamu of Sabu, Ladakh, 1987 75 Stok, Ladakh, 1987 76 Steel Worker, Jindal Pipes, Kosi Kalan, 2000 77 Steel Worker, Jindal Pipes, Kosi Kalan, 2000 78 Steel Worker, Jindal Pipes, Kosi Kalan, 2000 79 Steel Worker, Jindal Pipes, Kosi Kalan, 2000 80 Rohtak, 1989 81 Ahmedabad, 1991 82 Kaifi Azmi, Sahmat Baithak, Delhi, 1998 83 Amarjeet Kaur and Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, Sahmat Hunger Strike, Lucknow, 1999 84 Calcutta, 2000 85 Bazaar Sita Ram, Delhi, 1998 86 Habib Rahman and Uma Vasudev, Gujral House, Delhi, 1990 87 Tavleen Singh and KP Unnikrishnan, Delhi, 1990’s 88 Ram Vilas Paswan Rally, Red Fort, 1995 89 KP Unnikrishnan, Jaipal Reddy, Red Fort Rally, Delhi, 1993 90 Folk Performer, Delhi, 1988 91 Folk Performer, Delhi, 1988 92 Bobby Deol as Bhagat Singh, Abbass Studio, Delhi, 2003 93 Cobbler, Ernakulum, 1987 94 Lower Manhattan, New York, 1988 95 India Day Parade, Madison Avenue, New York, 2002 96 Navina Sundaram with Self-Portrait By Her Aunt, Amrita Shergil, Delhi, 2001 97 Ayodhya, 1993 98 Rekha Rodwittiya, Triveni, Delhi, 1987 99 Brooklyn, New York, 1992 100 Rajghat, Delhi, 1995 101 Gandhi March, Delhi, 1995

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102 Sikh Riots Survivors, Kalyanpuri Sector 13, Delhi, 1984 103 Sikh Riots Survivors, Kalyanpuri Sector 13, Delhi, 1984 104 Sikh Riots Survivors, Kalyanpuri Sector 13, Delhi, 1984 105 Sikh Riots Survivors, Kalyanpuri Sector 13, Delhi, 1984 106 Bhupen Khakhar, Delhi, 1995 107 Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1990’s 108 Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 1993 109 Architects Union Office, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 1993 110 Gulf War Victory Parade, Lower Manhattan, New York, 1991 111 Gulf War Victory Parade, Lower Manhattan, New York, 1991 112 Raghubir Singh And Lois Conner, Photographers, New York, 1993 113 Devayani Krishna, Bharti Artists Colony, Delhi, 2000 114 Francis Newton Souza, New York, 1998 115 Mother And Child, Malana, Himachal, 1983 116 Auto Driver, Delhi, 1986 117 Saeed Ahmed, Phalwale, Delhi, 2006 118 Red Fort Lawns, Delhi, 1990 119 Nath Family, Neemrana, 2004 120 Yashodhara Roy, Bimal Roy Bungalow, Bombay, 1985 121 Irfan Habib, Historian, Delhi, 2000 122 N Pushpamala, Bangalore, 2000 123 Vivan Sundaram, Delhi, 1995 124 Bhagirath Place, Delhi, 1993 125 Lunch Break, Jantar Mantar, Delhi, 1988 126 House, Central Bhutan, 1983 127 Bangalore, 1987 128 Judy Reddy, Zarina Hashmi, Apu Reddy, Krishna Reddy, Tyeb and Sakina Mehta, New York, 2005 129 Husain Paints A Horse, Delhi, 1994 130 Kishangarh Palace, 1990 131 Ram Vilas Paswan at Home, Delhi 1994 132 Narasimha Rao, India Gate, Delhi, 1991 133 Sonia Gandhi, Delhi, 2002 134 Chhau Gurus, Seraikela, 1983 135 Lakshmi, Balasaraswati and Aniruddho, Madras, 1983 136 Cochin, 1985 137 Doorway, Panchkuin Road, Delhi, 1980’s 138 Daryaganj, Delhi, 1999 139 Daryaganj, Delhi, 2004 140 Satish, Kiran Gujral, Krishen Khanna and Mrinalini Mukherjee, Delhi, 1989 141 Salman, Navina, Nadim and Kusum Haidar, Willingdon Crescent, Delhi, 1986 142 Paramjit Singh, Khajuraho, 1999 143 Elizabeth Brunner, Delhi, 1988 144 Rummana Husain, Delhi, 1997 145 Anita Dube, Rummana Husain,

Ayesha Abraham and Rasna Bhushan, Delhi, 1997 146 Abbass Studios, Delhi, 2003 147 Abbass Studios, Delhi, 2003 148 Ram Vilas Paswan, SR Bommai, Phoolan Devi, Rally, Delhi, 1994 149 Peanutseller, Red Fort, Delhi, 1995 150 Shirt Stall, Red Fort, Delhi, 1989 151 Near Turkman Gate, Delhi, 1985 152 Razia Sultan’s Grave, Turkman Gate, Delhi, 1994 153 Photo Booth, Nizammuddin Urs Mela, Delhi, 1989 154 Folk Singer, Delhi, 1987 155 Bina Ramani, Shireen Paul and Mani Mann, Neemrana, 1990’s 156 Habib and Monica Tanvir, Delhi, 2003 157 Usha Bhagat, Uma Sharma, Gujral House, Delhi, 1990 158 Vicki Sahni, Nikhil Khanna, Rohit Bal, Delhi, 1997 159 Shubha Mudgal Sings For an Ailing Kaifi Azmi, Delhi, 1999 160 Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Calcutta, 2000 161 Arjun Singh, Delhi, 1996 162 Inder Gujral Campaigning In Jallandhar, 1989 163 Inder Gujral Campaign Office, Jallandhar, 1989 164 Wedding, Bardez, Goa, 1993 165 Wedding, Bardez, Goa, 1993 166 Cezar Pinto, Bardez, Goa, 1986 167 Wedding, Bardez, Goa, 1993 168 Jama Masjid Car Parts Bazaar, Delhi, 1983 169 Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1987 170 Safdar Hashmi Funeral, Delhi, 1989 171 Ahmedabad, 1992 172 Indira Gandhi, Delhi, 1986 173 Arpita Singh, Khajuraho, 1999 174 Vivan Sundaram Birthday, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Krishen, Renu Khanna and Teesta Setalvad, 1990’s 175 Dinner Party, Raj Rewal’s House, Delhi, 1989 176 Ram Navami, Delhi, Red Fort, 1996 177 Kumartuli, Calcutta, 2006 178 Kumartuli, Calcutta, 2006 179 Matia Mahal, Delhi, 2007 180 Chawri Bazaar, Delhi, 2006 181 Chawri Bazaar, Delhi, 2006 182 Chawri Bazaar, Delhi, 2006 183 Bazaar Chitli Qabar, Delhi, 2007 184 Bazaar Chitli Qabar, Delhi, 2007 185 Bazaar Chitli Qabar, Delhi, 2007 186 Bazaar Chitli Qabar, Delhi, 2007 187 Pahari Imli Chowk, Delhi, 2007 188 Pahari Imli Chowk, Delhi, 2007 189 Kumartuli, Calcutta, 2006 190 Heaven In Mylapore, 2006 (Above) The Assassination Of Trotsky, Ernakulum/ Coyoacan, 2007 (Below)

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Catalogue published for the exhibition

Bioscope scenes From an eventFul liFe

Ram Rahman

Scans: Digital Image Solutions, DelhiDigital Prints: Siddharth Photographix, Delhi

On Harman FB A1 Archival PaperColour Prints on Hahnemuehle Rag Archival Paper

Gelatin Silver prints, selenium toned, printed by the artist

Photographs © Ram Rahman 2008Text © Peter Nagy

Essay © Ram Rahman

Design - Ram Rahman and Jacob PPrint & Production - Thomson Press (India) Limited

All rights reservedNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without permission

© Bodhi Art 2008

ISBN 978-81-904376-2-2

www.bodhiart.in

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