This book follows the remarkable story of photography in India from the 1840s to today.
India has one of the richest and most extensive histories of photography in the world with the camera arriving in the country only a few years after its invention in Europe. Organized chronologically, this book covers over 150 years of photography, divided into ten chapters which focus on themes and genres such as archaeology and ethnography, portraiture, photojournalism, social documentary, street photography, modernism, and contemporary art. An in-depth introduction and ten short essays contextualize the photographs in light of India’s journey from colonial territory, to independent nation state, to global economic superpower, along the way suggesting new arguments as to how this has been reflected in photographic practice. Over 100 Indian as well as international photographers are included in this well-researched and engaging book that includes some of the country’s most iconic images, alongside the work of lesser-known artists and a wealth of previously unpublished material.
Nathaniel Gaskell (b. London, 1986) is the co-founder and associate director of the Museum of Art & Photography, Bangalore, and the former director of the Tasveer Gallery. He received his BA in Fine Art from the Arts University College, Bournemouth (2008) and an MA in Cultural Studies from the London Consortium (2009). Previous books, as editor, include William Dalrymple: The Historian’s Eye, Derry Moore: In the Shadow of the Raj, Karan Kapoor: Time & Tide and Hikari: Contemporary Photography from Japan. He lives between Bangalore and Singapore.
Diva Gujral (b. New Delhi, 1991) is a writer, curator and PhD scholar at the department of History of Art, University College London. Her research assesses photographic practices in India in relation to India’s Cold War-era political and cultural policy of non-alignment. She received her BA Hons in History at the University of Delhi (2012) and an MA in History of Art from University College London (2015). She writes for Frieze and Critical Collective.
Nathaniel Gaskell, Diva Gujral: Photography in India
Published by Prestel
Hardcover with jacket
304 pages, 24,5 x 28,0 cm
150 color illustrations, 150 b/w illustrations
ISBN: 978-3-7913-8421-4
www.prestel.com
