The People of India was an 8-volume publication compiled by John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye between 1868 and 1875. Originally conceived by Lord and Lady Canning, it was an early experiment with photography as a documentary medium.
The project Re-imaging The People of India 2013 aims at providing a visual comparative interpretation of an enormously multicultural nation from widely contrasting standpoints in terms of space and time; the ones who ruled and their observation and now post-independence, our own self-reflection.
Re-imaging The People of India (1850-2013), a photography exhibition under the aegis of Neel Dongre Awards/Grants for Excellence in Photography by India Photo Archive Foundation.
The Foundation presents a collaborative photographic project by four
eminent contemporary photo practitioners representing different genres of photography; Dinesh Khanna, Dileep Prakash, Mahesh Bhat and Sandeep Biswas and curated by Aditya Arya, a leading practitioner, a photo historian and archivist.
This exhibition showcases rare albumin prints from 1850s (from the Aditya Arya Archive) and the contemporary work on similar communities and professions.
