exhibition Posts

‘India and the World: A History in Nine Stories’

In May a two-month exhibition opened at National Museum, New Delhi. It had been curated by Naman P. Ahuja and Jeremy David Hill. The introduction to the catalogue is by Neil MacGregor, Former Director, British Museum. The premise of the exhibition to give a narrative of the history of India with the world in nine stories. It was intended to be told through a careful selection of significant objects that would represent this incredible relationship through the ages. The curation of the exhibition took more than three years. The idea of using objects to tell the history is a methodology made popular by Neil MacGregor when he curated an exhibition called “A History of the World in 100 Objects“.

For some these narratives of distilling world cultures and stories into objects is a convenient way of mapping centuries of history. It also provides a new generation a visual experience of the past while providing crucial landmarks by mapping significant objects. But objects represent partly tell the story. Try doing the exercise for contemporary settings and see how many qualifiers you come up with. It is a challenging process. More so in an age where identity politics are becoming more and more critical and who is responsible for the discourse.
By attempting to tell world history narratives through a series of disparate objects presumes a bedrock of information and knowledge that is sadly lacking among many. Or curate such an exhibition but then provide sufficient modes of engagement that supplement the main narrative. Provide audio towers. Interactive kiosks. Computer screens for browsing through the online exhibition. Use augmented reality to recreate scenarios and settings of these objects. Even The Print‘s report on the exhibition had some constructive feedback.
The Braille touch was a fantastic idea but badly implemented. Why were the legends for instance of the palm placed in the next room rather than  next to the cubicle displaying the original? It’s a genuflection. Sure it’s meant for the visually impaired but some individuals can actually have a sense of light. Lecdems happened but were not sufficiently well publicized. I heard about the exhibition because of Twitter and the publisher who mentioned the book online.
The catalogue mentions that the exhibition was for educational purpose. It definitely is educational more like a school exhibition helping plot markers by building appropriate mental furniture in a school going kids mind! I have an eight year old daughter who is brought up on a fare of books and documentaries and frank conversations. Our parenting styles are clear. Let the child come to us and our communication channels be open rather than her be misinformed. So we sit with her and watch documentaries. Explain things. So the moment she saw the bust of Hadrian she squealed with delight. She had recognised Hadrian. For much else if I had not been with my daughter giving a running commentary on the objects helping her connect dots with her many experiences, snatches from bookish references, stories told, films watched, conversations had, the child would have been terribly confused and bored! Instead she ran round and round the exhibition trying to click pictures.
Saving grace was watching the child run around enthusiastically. If that is the impact then the exhibition I would say it’s a success for it caught the imagination  of the future generation. That is what matters!!!
To buy the paperback on Amazon India
14 August 2018 

HarperCollins India to publish William Dalrymple’s The Writer’s Eye”

william-dalyrmple-lead-image003I am truly excited about this forthcoming book – The Writer’s Eye. True, the photographs taken by William Dalrymple are exquisite. Even more astounding when you realise these were mostly taken with his Samsung phone. But what I like the most about this publishing arrangement is the coming together of three very talented photographers — William Dalrymple, Ananth Padmanabhan and Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi. The historical sense that informs the superb compositions of William Dalrymple, combined with the sharp publishing potential and commissioning sensibility of veteran publisher Ananth Padmanabhan and the fine aesthetic and curation abilities of Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi can only make a stupendous book. I wait eagerly to see what is published in March 2016. 

HarperCollins India to publish William Dalrymple

HarperCollins India are delighted to announce the publication of renowned writer, traveller and historian William Dalrymple’s first book of photographs, The Writer’s Eye, this March.

In a suite of black and white photographs, shot over two years, William Dalrymple brings elegance, inquiry and grace to the photographic form. Powerful and precise, the pictures in The Writer’s Eye are documents of landscape, conveying potent solitude and brooding strokes. The beloved author of acclaimed books returns to a visual medium he first worked with in collegiate days, armed now with over two decades of writerly composure and brilliance.

William Dalrymple said, “I am completely thrilled that HarperCollins India are publishing my photographs – the realisation of a long held dream.”

Ananth, CEO, HarperCollins India said, ‘We are incredibly excited – it’s a rare moment when a celebrated writer chooses another medium of art. William’s first book of photographs and we are delighted he chose to publish with us’

Curated by bestselling writer and Sensorium Festival co-founder, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi The Writer’s Eye opens at Sunaparanta : Goa Centre for the Arts, 18th of March, in Goa; Vadehra Art Gallery, 29th of March, in Delhi; and the Grosvenor Gallery, June 2016, London. This show is proudly supported by arts patrons Dattaraj, Dipti Salgaocar and Isheta Salgaocar, gallerists Roshini Vadehra, and Conor Macklin, The Writer’s Eye marks the public debut of a gifted visual artist.

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi had this to say on his Facebook wall ( 1 March 2016). (I am posting it with his permission. )
One winter evening at the Goa home of Dattaraj Salgaocar, the writer and historian William Dalrymple showed me photographs he’d made on his phone. I was struck by their jazz quality, nocturnal and solitary. I asked if I might show them. He agreed. Two years later, we have a handsome body of work, The Writer’s Eye, which debuts this spring March 18th at Sunaparanta Art Centre. My friend, the wonderful Roshini Vadehra Kapoor and I teamed to show it in Delhi, at Vadhera Art Gallery, which opens March 29th. And in partnership with family friends Dattaraj and Dipti Salgaocar’s Sunaparanta and Vadehra, the show moves to London, opening at the Grosvenor Gallery on June 23rd.
I was equally keen to take the gallery catalog, a somewhat of a vanity document seen by an elite few, and grow it into something that might be enjoyed by many. I turned to my friend Ananth Padmanabhan, CEO of HarperCollins, himself a writer and photographer, and he gamely came on to support the show by bringing out a splendid book of the photographs (with essays by William and myself). The Writer’s Eye is launched in Delhi, on the day the show opens.
As Sensorium draws to a close this month, we are already preparing walls for the next show. Please come if in Goa, Delhi or London to celebrate William, his work, and his 50th birthday this March, for which this is a small celebration.
With gracious support from Arianna Huffington, Anindita Ghose and all at VOGUE, Shruti Kapur at Platform, and David Godwin.

I am posting some of the photographs that William Dalrymple has clicked with his Samsung. These are a personal selection I made from the press release, newspaper reports and from William Dalrymple’s Facebook page. These are being posted on my blog with his permission.

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william-dalyrmple-embed-image005The Diwan-e-Aam, Fatehpur Sikri


The Fatehpur Sikri Jama Masjid



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All photos: William Dalrymple (c) 2016

William Dalrymple is a writer, traveller and historian and one of the co-directors and founders of the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. He is the author of several bestselling books, including Return of a King, White Mughals and Nine Lives.

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi‘s debut novel, The Last Song of Dusk, won the Betty Trask Award in the UK, the Premio Grinzane Cavour in Italy, and was nominated for the IMPAC Prize. The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay, his subsequent bestselling novel, was nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008.

3 March 2016

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