The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bengaluru Mandis: markets in frames

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Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009
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Karnataka

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Bengaluru Mandis: markets in frames

Staff Reporter

— Photo: Sampath Kumar. G.P.

Reflections: A visitor looking at the photographs of Bengaluru Mandis displayed at Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore on Monday.

Bangalore: What Bengaluru Mandis intends to is to capture the energy of the city’s markets and perhaps document their role in people’s lives.

This coffee table book, released at the Max Mueller Bhavan on Monday, is a collection of about 75 photographs by 16 photographers of the Bangalore Photography Club.

The photographs have also been displayed at an exhibition at the Max Mueller Bhavan, and one can see some great stills from the bustle of Bangalore’s bazaars.

From the dingy Russell Market, a much-photographed market in this series, to the Jayanagar shopping complex with its original charm before last year’s fire ate away most of it, the pictures talk about corners of Bangalore that represent its old-world character.

Mayur Channagere, member of the Bangalore Photography Club, said they decided to photograph the markets because “these are places seemingly untouched by time and unchanged by all that has happened over the centuries of the city’s cultural existence”.

Ajay Garg, Deepika Nagabhushan, Pedro Ledesma III and Vinayak Das are some of the photographers who have contributed to Bengaluru Mandis.

“The book took about a year-and-a-half to materialise,” said Mr. Channagere.

Mr. Channagere says that he believes that the book is a truly “global view of Bangalore” and not just an insider’s view, as there are expatriates who have contributed to the book.

Despite that, the exhibition seems incomplete because it does not chronicle the transformed landscape of the city’s markets. Bangalore’s malls and glitzy stores, which occupy large amounts of space, are also markets where people shop.

Also, while the pictures reveal the charm of the old lively markets, they are certainly images we have seen before.

The book is priced at Rs. 1,000 and is available at the venue of the exhibition, which is on till February 22.

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