There is an unmistakable nostalgia to black-and-white photographs; they evoke memories of a time past, of stories heard and living experiences passed down through word of mouth.
While the photographs taken by TS Satyan are no exception, they also are a pictorial documentation of the times he lived in. Satyan was a photojournalist in the 1960s, a time of great change and evolution in India’s socio-politic and economic landscape. Perhaps what makes Satyan relevant even today is his subject — life in India. The men, women and children in his work are people one encounters daily. Though the lion’s share of his work was done post-Independence, his photographs of yesteryears throw sharp contrast as to what has changed, and tragically, what still remains the same.
Images of coy brides and solemn grooms, child labourers and daily wage workers, hospital camps and polling booths sit beside blink-and-miss moments that have been recorded for posterity only because Satyan had his camera primed and ready to click at that instant. Monkeys clambering all over an Ambassador, the car itself a rarity on our roads today, or happy little boys a second before they splash into a pool of water on a hot summer’s day. Satyan and his camera have traversed the length and breadth of the country, from the Golden Temple in Amritsar to hamlets in rural Karnataka.
With great ease -- Photos by TS Satyan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Arnika Ahldag, head of exhibitions at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), says they had to shortlist the images on display from among 1,500 photographs given to them by the Satyan Family Trust. “It is his birth centenary and most previous exhibitions looked at Satyan as a photojournalist who documented political events or individuals. While we were combing through the archive, our incentive was to look at the person behind the camera,” Arnika says, adding that though the museum had a lot of his colour photographs too, they did not fit into the curation the team wanted to bring together.
“While looking at his photographs, it became apparent he approached his subjects in an emotional manner which is what makes him so relatable.”
According to Arnika, the photographs on display are from the 1960s and ‘70s, a period during which Satyan travelled extensively across the country, and his photographs take one beyond the obvious. “For instance, his photograph of two blind young boys playing with toys, does not evoke pity, rather it makes you think of a friendship where both are sure of the other’s support. Similarly, when he documents child labour, there is an emphasis on skill and dedication; making the issue more complex and more complicated,” she adds.
Perhaps one of the most poignant images on display could be that of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at Parliament House, New Delhi, in 1962. The day is almost over and Nehru who seems slightly tired, is walking away. Satyan who never operated with a flash, used light intelligently. “The little bit of light that was shining through the small windows were enough to outline the leader; it’s not a typical image one sees of Nehru.”
With great ease -- photos by TS Satyan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
According to Arnika, Satyan had been commissioned to photograph Nehru at that time and the prime minister was getting rather impatient with the photographer’s constant quest to click the right picture. There is also a sense of the unseen side of history in his photograph of BKS Iyengar helping Yehudi Menuhin with a yoga pose at Nehru’s home in 1964.
During his tenure as a photojournalist, Satyan’s images have appeared in Indian newspapers and magazines as well as foreign publications such as Life, Time and Newsweek. A few yellowing newspapers carrying his work are also on display as well as the Kodak Brownie Box camera he used in his initial years as a photographer.
Arnika says Satyan’s English professor believed in the practice of photography and gave him the money to buy this camera. “It was not a specialised camera. It was something a lot of photographers and lay people were using at the time.”
Satyan’s photographs not only capture a bygone era, but also transport you to a simpler time. Connoisseurs of photography will appreciate his sense of timing, or rather his predictive sense of timing in an age when the ease of multiple shots on a digital medium was unthinkable.
With great ease -- photos by TS Satyan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A few of Satyan’s works have been reproduced as postcards and bookmarks and are available at the venue.
With great ease: The photography of T.S. Satyan will be on display at the Museum of Art and Photography till November 20, 2023. Entry free.
With great ease -- photos by TS Satyan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
With great ease -- photos by TS Satyan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
