Photographing India

Description

A rare collection of photographs taken by internationally acclaimed photographer Sunil Janah between late 1930s and late 1970s in India, this historically important volume captures various aspects of pre- and post-Independence India—the freedom movement, the Partition, famines, riots, peasant and social movements, and important political fi gures, artists, writers, and other eminent personalities. In addition, Janah also documents the lives of ordinary people—factory workers, miners, artisans, and peasants, as well as villagers, city-dwellers, and tribals. In the commentary preceding the photographs, Janah provides rare and valuable insights into Indian history, the country’s social and cultural life, as well as his development as an artist. Through this narrative, he not only introduces the photographs and the history behind the incidents or the people they document, but also recounts interesting and amusing anecdotes about them, adding to the richness of the images. The narrative also captures his life in post-9-11 America.   Including close to 400 photographs that offer glimpses of the India that was and the India that is, across the bridge of Independence, this volume is a rare combination of the personal history and evolution of an artist and that of a nation.