“While his long documentary work on the rural arts was driven by the compulsion to record rapidly vanishing arts, he was always making images which were photographic in the best sense. He constantly photographed his artist and student colleagues in the college in Baroda as well as around the country. These have now become historic images of an important period in the development of Indian modernism besides being terrific photographs.”  - Ram Rahman, excerpted from The Photographic Eye of Jyoti Bhatt (The Guild, 2018)

We are delighted to announce The Photographic Eye of Jyoti Bhatt, a show curated by Ram Rahman and presented by the Centre for Kachchh and Desert studies, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, in collaboration with The Guild. This show presents an insight into the Kachchh of yesteryear, both documentary and artistic in its framing. The artist’s attempt to capture traditional artistic forms that he felt were fast disappearing becomes an invaluable insight into the cultural evolution of the Kachchh of the 1960s and ’70s, with an emphasis on the unique local modes of creative practice. The works become a sociocultural document of what is becoming a bygone era.

The exhibition will also be accompanied by programming related to Kachchh, including talks on cultural elements such as Kachchh’s textiles and music; as well as a talk by Ram Rahman on Jyoti Bhatt’s photography. More details to follow!

Jyoti Bhatt is a contemporary Indian photographer, painter and printmaker. Based out of Baroda, the artist is a founding member of the artist collective ‘group 1890’ in 1963. In 1966 he resumed teaching at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda and began to document “The Living Traditions of Folk and Tribal Visual Arts in India.” His works use the cultural traditional motifs of Indian folk art, and have been selected for various exhibitions held in the UK, the USA, the USSR, Poland, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan. Bhatt was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata in 2004. He has been honoured with Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2019.

Ram Rahman is a contemporary Indian photographer, activist and curator. He has curated shows  such as Delhi: Building the Modern, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, 2017; The Photographic Eye of Jyoti Bhatt, The Guild, 2016–17; Sunil Janah: Vintage Photographs 1940-1960, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2015; Delhi Modern: The Architectural Photographs of Madan Mahatta, PHOTOINK, New Delhi, 2012. Rahman has also been lecturing on aspects of contemporary Indian photography and architecture in the last few years, at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum; Jnanapravaha, Mumbai; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris, including major lectures on Sunil Janah, Raghubir Singh, and the modern architecture of New Delhi.

The Centre for Kachchh and Desert Studies, Somaiya School of Civilization Studies, Somaiya Vidyavihar University focusses on the academic, cultural and developmental aspects of Kachchh. The Centre expands its scope to research on deserts of the world keeping Kachchh as its epicentre.