Street life dominates the black and white pictures numbering about 300 mounted in a massive exhibition spanning 40 years of work of internationally acclaimed photographer Raghu Rai. The first exhibition of his photography on a grand scale after the 2007 retrospective at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, Raghu Rai: A Thousand Lives — Photographs from 1965-2005 at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (February 1- May 15) in the national capital was put together from a period when the Delhi-based photographer was using film. The next 20 years of his professional life, during which he leaned on a digital camera, is meant for another exhibition, quips Rai. Though there are sections of his famous works on Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, the focus of the show is on ordinary daily life in alleys, rooftops, slums and roadside. There are images of workers pushing handcarts with heavy loads in Old Delhi, a man carrying a huge hoarding of a Hindi movie in Mumbai, taxi drivers sleeping inside their parked cars in Kolkata and children taking a plunge into water in a flooded orphanage in Varanasi, all in silver gelatin prints made in New York in January this year. Old photography methods used in the 18th century give a raw character to Rai's works, illuminating the emotions of his protagonists. A civil engineer who took to photography at the age of 23, Rai says his camera was always active as he travelled to and back from important events, capturing pictures of sights along the way. Rai talks to Faizal Khan about the making of his new exhibition, curated by Roobina Karode with Devika Daulet-Singh, and how he has remained the same passionate photographer he was on the first day of his career 60 years ago. Excerpts from an interview:
When did you decide to have a huge exhibition of your works spanning four decades and mainly focusing on ordinary life?
My last big exhibition was the retrospective at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi in 2007. There were many others after the retrospective, at the Lalit Kala Akademi on Mother Teresa, at the India Habitat Centre on the Bangladesh war and refugees. The big one was in 2007. This exhibition is bigger, yet this is about the work of 40 years, not 60. When I was doing a story for a magazine or newspaper, I was taking pictures on the way. The camera is always active. I was taking pictures all along on the way and in between to stay alive and connected. All these pictures were taken between 1965 and 2005, when I was using a film camera. The next 20 years will be another exhibition.
How important is it for you to bring back those pictures not linked to your professional work?
I worked with The Statesman, Sunday Magazine and India Today. Indira Gandhi was prime minister for 17-18 years. While photographing Indira Gandhi in political, social and cultural situations, it used to be Indira Gandhi on page 1, 2 and 3. The access was very easy then. Today, you can't go close to the leaders. You stand 50 feet away taking pictures with a big lens. That makes no sense. But we were only four or five feet away from Indira Gandhi. And one day, it occurred to me that all my work was around the prime minister in the morning and in the evening. If someone sees this photograph and he or she doesn't know who Indira Gandhi is, does my picture still hold its emotions and power? To communicate with people was the question. So, I started looking at political stories also with a human angle. At the same time, I was shooting street life on a daily basis. Let's face it, half of India lives on the streets. Especially in big cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, you see them sprawling everywhere. That is the social thread of daily life which we can't ignore no matter who their prime minister is.
The poor people you have photographed are seldom remembered in the journey of a nation. How do you think you have been able to provide insights into the real story of India?
The human approach to any given situation whether political, social, cultural or ordinary daily life gives you the essence and connection to the spirit of the people. For over 40 years, I never took pictures when I went on trips abroad. Because I thought my own country was large enough for me to go on and on. You can almost walk into people's lives and nobody will be alarmed and upset, except once in a while somebody will say, no, and I will walk away. At these moments, you merge with the place and the place beats for you. You have to be born everyday with that kind of commitment and passion. Then you get your moments of genius.
What is the relationship between you and your protagonists on the street you are looking at while you are taking their pictures?
Photography is different from writing and painting because you are face to face with changing equations and alignments and every other possibility. You have to grab it there and then. There is an immediacy of things unlike the political situations where we will be allowed a few minutes. That discipline has trained me to walk into the by-lanes of daily life to capture the ordinary minds and their lives. It is a very special thing for me to inherit this spirit of this country. If you are taking nice, pretty pictures then you don't have to get into people's lives. You take a picture from far away, post it on Instagram and get 500 likes.
How has your work changed because of changes in technology?
That era was different when we were using film. Film had its own constraints and possibilities. But let me tell you, digital technology you can say is all-pervading. Anywhere and everywhere and in the middle of the night you can take a picture. You click it and have the ability to see it right away. For me, I am reborn with digital technology.
How did you go about choosing pictures from your vast collection for the exhibition?
It is the first time I am having a detailed show. I took out all my collections. We are in the process of doing more. I didn't realise that unknowingly I was taking pictures anywhere, everywhere and all the time. I was not doing it as a profession, but as a passion to explore, to understand my country and my people. I have so many collections, the exhibition is just a little bit of that. There were rolls of films I would keep away and never look at. Thanks to digital technology, it has given us access to go back to the archives and bring out those daily moments of social life which were lying buried somewhere. At least half of the works in this exhibition have never been seen by the public before.
Raghu Rai: A Thousand Lives — Photographs from 1965-2005 is on display from 10.30 am-6.30 pm, February 1 to May 15 (closed on Monday and public holidays), at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi.
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