Ten Indian photographers will exhibit their works for a month at the Duboys Gallery in Paris, starting May 19. For the curators, the photographs reveal the state of contemporary Indian photography, where detachment is no longer prized and a hearty involvement with the subject is the order of the day
Ten Indian photographers will exhibit their works for a month at the Duboys Gallery in Paris, starting May 19. For the curators, the photographs reveal the state of contemporary Indian photography, where detachment is no longer prized and a hearty involvement with the subject is the order of the day
Photographer Fabien Charuau would rather talk of his Indian roots than his French origin, having lived in and married into the country. Which is why, when he says that something new is happening in the Indian contemporary photography scene, you don't think twice over his use of first person pronouns, whether singular or plural. 
Dhruv Dhawan is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer from
Mumbai. A series he calls Mumbai Sleeping was shot in 2009, as Dhawan
photographed people sleeping on the streets of South Mumbai. Intended
to question the premise of portrait photography, where the subject is
conscious, Dhawan's works also raises uncomfortable questions about the
extent to which photojournalism can intrude on one's privacy, even as
these photos are shot in urban public spaces. Over the course of a year
and 300 exposures, only two people woke up.
Instead, you focus your attention on understanding what the 37 year-old former fashion photographer from Bengaluru has noticed, for you know that he means business. After all, it's this new paradigm that he is keen to showcase before the international art market at the Duboys Gallery in Paris, starting May 19, in a show titled, This is Not That. Somewhere, along the way, you realise something important is underway -- a school of thought is being created.
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"We handle reality differently," says Charuau, whose last exhibition, The Great Unwashed, depicted men from small town India, caught unawares in different natural 'poses'. "The photographers today aren't detached from their subjects, but engage with them with emotion. It's very visible that we are sucked into our work," says Charuau, who will co-curate the show with Duboys gallery owner Dominique Charlet.
Charuau also points to the different kinds of cameras and photographic processes that Indian photographers now employ. 
Neil Chowdhury, whose Waking from Dreams of India is part of the
exhibition, uses digital photo-montage and time-lapse video to juxtapose
modern advertising icons with religious imagery.
Neil Chowdhury, whose Waking from Dreams of India is part of the exhibition, uses digital photo-montage and time-lapse video to juxtapose modern advertising icons with religious imagery. Pradeep Dalal makes use of the digital scanner to create his photographic works. By nudging and shaking the photographs inside the scanner, he creates panoramic shots of contemporary India.
Zubin Pastakia's The Cinemas Project traces the state of Mumbai's
disappearing single-screen cinema halls that were once symbols of
urbanity. For him, these halls continue to tell a story, as they also double
as spaces of dwelling and labour.
"We are not aloof. We are part of our photographs," adds Charuau. Besides Mumbai boys Dhruv Dhawan, Zubin Pastakia and Pradeep Dalal, other photographers include Swapan Parekh, Binu Bhaskar, and Charuau himself.
While there is no '-ism' to their practice yet, it's telling that a French gallery has caught scent of this. With India being the flavour of the season in Paris now -- Anish Kapoor's Monumenta opened at the Grande Palais on May 11, Abhay Maskara will co-curate a show at Galerie du Jour in June, and Bharti Kher and Sudarshan Shetty will exhibit their works through May and June -- it's not surprising that a Frenchman from India has made the connect.
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