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Stilling the motion of life

The various documentaries of our era captured on film

Pablo Bartholomew's image of hill Miri male

Photographs still life, time and motion- period. As an exhibition of arguably six of India's better-known photographers comes to town, the feeling is that of suspended animation that leaves you with a slack jaw. The craftsmanship of light, shutter speed, aperture, speed of film and other calculations dissolve into one of robust documentation. You can flit between admiring the play of light and shade of Pablo Bartholomew's photograph of a hill miri male with cane hat or scratch your head about the four men and boys in traditional with work tools waiting as if they have been asked to stay put by the photographer. Did he or didn't he? That's the question without answer.

Move on and there is the work of Jyoti Bhatt as he captures the colours and sounds of Rajasthan. The simple folk caught candidly as they stare back into the lens. See the subtle humour as he captures an image of hen collecting her brood in the shadow and presence of tools that can be used to kill and cook her.

Bollywood too has a slice in this exhibition where Sudharak Olwe gets underneath the greasepaint of stars. But instead of showing the warts and all side of the film world, Sudharak shows the gloss and sheen of the people who make up the reel world.

Then there is Manish Swarup who takes photojournalism to a different realm as his silent image of a Abu Ghraib in Iraq and the undercurrent of violence as a lethargic cop is shown the smouldering world by two animated men. Hyderabad's Veeresh Babu makes his presence felt with his documentary of trees from the sacred to the sacrilegious.

S. N

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