Skip to content Skip to footer
0 items - $0 0
0 items - $0 0
0 items - $0 0
Close

An Economy of Signs: Contemporary Indian Photographs

Additional information

By

Sunil Gupta
Publisher

Rivers Oram Press
Year Published

1990
Language

English

Description

This book and exhibition project was initiated in collaboration with the Photographers’ Gallery, London. I wanted to demonstrate that if we commissioned Indian photographers to the same amount as we do Western ones, they would give us work to an international standard.

“The title of this book is an allusion to the R K Narayan stories about a mythical South Indian town Malgudi; a microcosm of Indian society. An Economy of Signs is the work of eight Indian photographers, all born after Independence.

India provides rich material for the photographer. The almost incredible social change in this century, the contrasts in cultures and races, the surreal visual juxtapositions, the rituals, all overlaying each other – all prime subjects. But the conflicts between and within India’s urban and rural societies – its English-speaking and non-English-speaking citizens, its caste system, its drive to create a national, secular identity and aspirations of its regions and culture – make it possible only to provide ‘signs’ towards understanding.”
The contributing photographers and writers:
Saleem Kidwai
Amit Jayaram
Sheba Chhachhi
Ashim Ghosh
Karan Kapoor
Amita Prashar
Ram Rahman
Sanjeev Saith
Ketaki Sheth
Sooni Taraporevala

 

ISBN: 9780954281328

 

 Sunil Gupta (born in New Delhi in 1953) is a photographer, curator, writer, and activist. Gupta migrated to Canada at the age of fifteen. He was educated in photography at the New School, New York (1976) and the Royal College of Art, London (1983). Over a career spanning more than four decades, Gupta has maintained a visionary approach to photography, producing bodies of work that are pioneering in their social and political commentary. The artist’s diasporic experience of multiple cultures informs a practice dedicated to themes of race, migration, and queer identity–his own lived experience was a point of departure for photographic projects, born from a desire to see himself and others like him represented in art history. Gupta’s work has been exhibited internationally and published in numerous monographs and catalogues, including Christopher Street, 1976 (2018) and From Here to Eternity (2020).

Spread the love

Related products

0