Recent Debates on Street Photography in India

There was an involved debate at the IPN symposium held in Delhi at the IIC in January 2008, which I had chaired. The IPN initiative was sponsored by the French Embassy in Delhi, with the involvement of Pro Helvetia. Initiated by Allain Willaume, it followed the India focus at Arles in 2007. More on this will follow. The discussion followed a presentation by Christophe Blaser, Associate Curator, Musee de L'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland. Raghu Rai had taken issue with the statement that street photography was dead as a genre.

There was also a heated discussion on the idea that 'national photographies' were dead and photography itself had been absorbed into the art world. My own interpretation of Raghu's intervention was that he was contesting both these constructs. Asian cities are now some of the biggest in the world and the complex urbanism emerging here is completely different from the European and American experience. I think Raghu was taking the stand that 'street photography' still has a relevance in our context and within our evolving photo culture. I agree with this completely.

While western photographic artistic discourse might be centering on a mono-cultural post-global urban alienation, which focusses on 'constructed' or more conceptual images, our socio-economic realities are vastly different. There is still a place for a sophisticated social document.

In my own work, I had eschewed 'street photography' for many years. But with better 35 mm digital cameras, in particular the Canon 5D, I discovered that the camera could do things which had been difficult for film. I began shooting near my home in old Delhi. Here are a few images which were made before Id and Diwali in Chawri Bazaar, Matia Mahal, Pahari Imli and Chitli Qabar in October 2007. I showed a few in my exhibition Bioscope in Delhi in February 2008.