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New Delhi

The best of Raghu Rai

Madhur Tankha

Vintage show opens in the Capital today

FROM THE SHOW: A 1975 photograph, clicked by Raghu Rai, of Lamas at prayer in Ladakh.

NEW DELHI: A special retrospective of photographs by noted photographer Raghu Rai opens at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) here this Tuesday.

Organised by NGMA, “The Journey of a Moment in Time: Raghu Rai” will be inaugurated by Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni at 6-30 p.m. A wide-ranging show, it will unfold a variety of works from “Earthscapes” and “Rocks” to images of the greatest exponents of Indian classical music.

Spanning 40 eventful years of Raghu Rai’s career as a photo-journalist, the exhibition will comprise never-before-seen images extracted from known older series and new works. In fact, 60 per cent of the photographs on view would be up for display for the first time.

Pointing out that Raghu Rai has traversed many paths as a photo-journalist, a portraiture artist and a traveller, NGMA Director Rajeev Lochan says he had virtually touched every subject and the latitude of his work is very wide. “It is indeed a momentous occasion to be honouring a man whose exhibitions and retrospectives have been held the world over and more. So for me, a journey of time is not just a metaphor for his signature style but for those moments when his works have renewed for me what might have been lost in the timelessness of time.”

The exhibition will showcase pictures of Mother Teresa, who was an endless source of inspiration for Raghu Rai. He has captured some moving pictures of the founder of Missionaries of Charities that chronicle not only her individuality but also showcase her humanitarian service for the downtrodden. The famous photographer had the fortune of taking images of Mother Teresa that range from 1970 till her death and the State funeral she was given in the country.

While for the first two decades of his career Raghu Rai worked exclusively in black and white, it was only in the 1980s that he started clicking colour pictures. Nevertheless, he demonstrated that he was capable of saddling both black and white and colour photography with consummate ease. The exhibition will show how the eminent photographer embraced digital technology and there would be a focus on his colour images.

The exhibition also features the most tragic consequences of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984. In his mission to capture the scenes as they were unfolding before his eyes, he took some heart-rending yet unforgettable images of the ghastly event.

Raghu Rai has made some exceptional studies of communities, customs and life in some of the important cities. The exhibition will feature his documentation of Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The exhibition is on up to April 15 – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Mondays.

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