Captured forever through a lens

Artist and photographer Jyoti Bhatt’s exhibition is a glimpse into some of his unseen works

January 21, 2017 12:04 am | Updated 12:04 am IST

For an artist to lose his vision could well be the cruelest blow. But that’s what 83-year-old Jyoti Bhatt is going through. He has spent his whole life photographing, drawing and printmaking. Despite his difficult circumstances, Bhatt remains lighthearted about his dwindling eyesight, as he jokes about his sporadic coughing and fearful nature. “Just waiting for the right time to go up,” he says, laughing.

Despite the limited resources and time, while working full time as a faculty at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Bhatt toured the country to photograph rural and tribal arts. Although at first commissioned, the documentation became a passion for the artist. Eventually, Bhatt extended his photography to Baroda’s architecture and his university, and its students and faculty. Some of these largely unseen works can be viewed at The Guild’s ongoing exhibition ‘ The Photographic Eye of Jyoti Bhatt’ , curated by photographer and activist Ram Rahman. “I was interested in looking at more photographic works of Bhatt, which are not dependent on a subject,” says Rahman, adding that the show is a representation of Bhatt’s connection to photography as a language. “Which is quite unusual for painters, as they tend to look at pictures that are pretty and graphic,” says the curator.

The artist managed to seamlessly shift from making images with a painter’s eye to those captured through a photographer’s. Rahman explains with the example of a colour photograph. It features a tribal boy, covered in silver beaded jewellery with white dots on his face and painted circles on his body. “Bhatt is only interested in the subject, interested in how this man has decorated himself. It’s straightforward. He is looking at the decoration, and that’s it.”

Contrarily, another image showcases three dhoti -clad men shot from the back in a bazaar. “When you look at it, you know that the composition is not centred or graphic,” says Rahman. “It uses the frame of the camera and that’s clear in the way it’s cropped.” It’s evident that Bhatt has focused on his subjects’ legs and shredded bottoms, proof of their poverty. “But look at how they have tied their dhoti . Bhatt is looking at the poetry of the leg. This is almost like finding a Chola sculpture in the bazaar. The poetry that he sees is the vision of the artist, but the way he has taken the picture is very photographic. It’s not a traditional, pretty picture.”

In order to make such beautiful images, Bhatt has had to travel to remote areas. “I had a lot of fun and adventure, but sometimes it would be quite scary for a simple artist like me,” he says, recounting a particularly scary incident. In a tribal fair in Gujarat, a drunk man was so disturbed by Bhatt’s camera that he tried to strike him with an axe, which Bhatt fortunately dodged. “Some people would shoo us away or turn their heads. But I think it’s only fair, as I was always aware that I was intruding in their private space.”

Another incident was during Holi, when tribals in Gujarat go from one village to another asking for money from businessmen. “During [the remaining] 364 days of the year, businessmen loot them. The festival of Holi is the one day when the tribals can extort money from businessmen.” On such group stopped the photographer’s car. Disappointed at the amount offered, they retaliated by climbing atop the vehicle. “I was shocked … We finally paid them more and they let us go.”

Bhatt has travelled to Gujarat, Rajasthan, and parts of Maharashtra. “I have always wanted to go to the North East, but couldn’t do that as those days, the atmosphere there was quite hostile. Also, I wouldn’t get leaves from work for more than a week at a time, and I was a scared man, not wanting to venture into something that would be dangerous.”

Bhatt’s work offers a glimpse into our country’s rich history of the arts. We ought to do as much as we can to preserve his legacy and our heritage.

The Photographic Eye of Jyoti Bhatt continues at The Guild, Alibaug, until February 18

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.