Photo exhibition: Step into Navroze Contractor’s world
Navroze Contractor’s photographs are exhibited at the Bangalore International Centre
Exhibit ‘Photography Strictly Prohibited’ features selection of images from 20,000 photographs taken over 60 years; is on display at BIC until July 7
Anexhibition of photographs by Navroze Contractor , titled ‘Photography Strictly Prohibited’ was inaugurated at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) on Friday. A book with the same title was also released at the event, featuring a few of Navroze’s interviews. The exhibition marks the first anniversary of his death as well as his birthday. He would have turned 80 on July 7 of this year.
Curated by documentary producer, director, and editor Sanjiv Shah, photographer and motorcycle enthusiast Himanshu Panchal, and photographer Anuj Ambalal, the exhibition showcases the work of the renowned cinematographer and prolific still photographer Navroze Contractor. Contractor’s collection of photographs of jazz musicians is now with the Smithsonian Museum. This exhibition features a selection from over 20,000 images taken over 60 years, many of which have not been previously exhibited. The retrospective hopes to reflect Contractor’s empathetic gaze and his ability to capture the perfect photographic moment.
“In the 35 years that I knew him, I rarely ever remember him stepping out of the house without a still camera. Of the hundreds of photographs taken of Navroze, starting in the early 1960s, there are rarely any photos of him where he could be seen without a camera dangling from his neck or shoulder, unless, of course, he was astride a motorcycle. But except for a brief period during the late 1960s when he worked for the Ford Foundation as a photographer, he was never a photographer in the classical sense. Other than the jazz musicians that he photographed for over three decades, he rarely ever pursued a subject or story,” Sanjiv Shah said in the curatorial note.
Shah added that Contractor had the unique gift of connecting with people of all ages and across cross-sections of society. He liked to observe people, meet them, talk to them, and know about them even when he was not shooting pictures. Growing up in a time when the country offered space for multiple viewpoints and artists of all ilk—poets, writers, painters, and filmmakers—believed their work could contribute to the creation of an equitable nation, he aligned with progressive politics that empathised with the underprivileged and the marginalized. “This informed the way he captured people on his camera, always with compassion and never allowing the camera to impose, intrude, or be patronizing. For him, the camera was an extension of his ‘eye’, to capture the world as he saw it. A documentation of his journey through life, in a way, that was not even necessary to share with the world,” he adds.
Other than the jazz photographs and a smaller set of photographs of the traditional Kushti Akhadas of Dharwar, none of his other work has been shown publicly, the curators noted. “In fact, it was only in the last few years that he was convinced to shed his reluctance to share this part of his life and agree to digitise his analogue images, which could then be curated and exhibited,” Shah says. The book and the images aim to share the unseen work with the public.
The show’s opening was followed by a talk by writer Arshia Sattar and included the screening of ‘Jharu Katha’, a 64-minute documentary film photographed and directed by Navroze. The exhibition will be on until July 7 from 11 am to 8 pm at BIC. The exhibition will travel across India, with a longer halt in Ahmedabad in October.
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Curated by documentary producer, director, and editor Sanjiv Shah, photographer and motorcycle enthusiast Himanshu Panchal, and photographer Anuj Ambalal, the exhibition showcases the work of the renowned cinematographer and prolific still photographer Navroze Contractor. Contractor’s collection of photographs of jazz musicians is now with the Smithsonian Museum. This exhibition features a selection from over 20,000 images taken over 60 years, many of which have not been previously exhibited. The retrospective hopes to reflect Contractor’s empathetic gaze and his ability to capture the perfect photographic moment.
“In the 35 years that I knew him, I rarely ever remember him stepping out of the house without a still camera. Of the hundreds of photographs taken of Navroze, starting in the early 1960s, there are rarely any photos of him where he could be seen without a camera dangling from his neck or shoulder, unless, of course, he was astride a motorcycle. But except for a brief period during the late 1960s when he worked for the Ford Foundation as a photographer, he was never a photographer in the classical sense. Other than the jazz musicians that he photographed for over three decades, he rarely ever pursued a subject or story,” Sanjiv Shah said in the curatorial note.
Shah added that Contractor had the unique gift of connecting with people of all ages and across cross-sections of society. He liked to observe people, meet them, talk to them, and know about them even when he was not shooting pictures. Growing up in a time when the country offered space for multiple viewpoints and artists of all ilk—poets, writers, painters, and filmmakers—believed their work could contribute to the creation of an equitable nation, he aligned with progressive politics that empathised with the underprivileged and the marginalized. “This informed the way he captured people on his camera, always with compassion and never allowing the camera to impose, intrude, or be patronizing. For him, the camera was an extension of his ‘eye’, to capture the world as he saw it. A documentation of his journey through life, in a way, that was not even necessary to share with the world,” he adds.
Other than the jazz photographs and a smaller set of photographs of the traditional Kushti Akhadas of Dharwar, none of his other work has been shown publicly, the curators noted. “In fact, it was only in the last few years that he was convinced to shed his reluctance to share this part of his life and agree to digitise his analogue images, which could then be curated and exhibited,” Shah says. The book and the images aim to share the unseen work with the public.
Contractor had the unique gift of connecting with people of all ages and across cross-sections of society. For him, the camera was an extension of his ‘eye’, to capture the world as he saw it
The show’s opening was followed by a talk by writer Arshia Sattar and included the screening of ‘Jharu Katha’, a 64-minute documentary film photographed and directed by Navroze. The exhibition will be on until July 7 from 11 am to 8 pm at BIC. The exhibition will travel across India, with a longer halt in Ahmedabad in October.
