Renowned photographer Raghu Rai, who is to showcase his works at an exhibition Divine Moments from March 4 to 14 at NID, talks to Priya Adhyaru-Majithia on what art means to him.
Trained as a civil engineer and photo artist by passion and profession, Padmashree awarded Raghu Rai is among select photographers who have deliberately remained focussed on the universality of Indian life and its many cultures. He has celebrated the unique and idiosyncratic essence of India-ness.
Renowned photographer Raghu Rai will be showcasing his works at an exhibition Divine Moments from March 4 to 14 at NID. His work is globally showcased in a large number of solo exhibitions and has been covered in more than 35 book publications and through major international magazine photo-essays.
His exhibition Divine Moments curated by Nathaniel Gaskell presents about 35 images selected from his wide ranging photographic oeuvre. Explaining what constitutes art, Rai said, “Art is something that you discover while exploring what life means for you. When you decide to up root your self from your comfort zone and throw yourself up in the air with a decision not to land on steps you landed earlier, neither land on steps taken by others before – you magically happen to discover newer steps to land on the same ground. And that creative exploration makes you unveil art.”
Rai said that he aims to capture human energy and emotions in images not subjects and scenes. He almost camouflages his own self within the surroundings and captures the glimpses in which intensity of life extraordinarily reveals itself spontaneously through various subjects.
The photographs in the exhibition span a long part of Rai’s career; it includes his first ever photograph ‘A Baby Donkey, Near Delhi’ from 1965, as well as some of his more contemporary work.
Raghu Rai’s contribution in photojournalism is incomparable. His images manifest that the subject of the photograph be it – Indira Gandhi or Mother Theresa, or simply a donkey on the streets, it is the manner in which one captures the power of supreme energy present in that subject that makes an image grand work of art.
In the last two decades, Rai has conducted an intensive and extensive coverage of India. He has produced more than 18 books, including Raghu Rai’s Delhi, The Sikhs, Calcutta, Khajuraho, Taj Mahal, Tibet in Exile, India, and Mother Teresa. He has served three times on the jury of the World Press Photo and twice on the jury of Unesco’s International Photo Contest.
