The Calcutta Diaries: Pablo Batholomew

November 22 - December 13, 2014 at Akar Prakar, Kolkata

This exhibition is a photographic journey into Pablo Bartholomew's own archive focussing on his years in Calcutta from the mid-1970s & 80s, dealing with an exploration of identity and society. Divided into four distinct sections ranging from images of his grandmother, a social commentary on the Chinese community - flowing into the street life of Calcutta, to a personal interaction with Satyajit Ray, the images present a biography on the everyday life of the  city - an enduring portrait of its twilight years its disparities and heady past. 

Pablo Bartholomew

Pablo Bartholomew is a self-taught photographer. He was awarded the Padma Shri — among India’s highest civilian honours — in April 2013 and in 2014 he was awarded Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres one of the highest cultural honors from  France.

Bartholomew’s work has been exhibited all over the world. Most notably at Another Asia, Nooderlicht Photo Festival, Netherlands (2006); Chobimela, Dhaka (2006); Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap (2006); Month of Photography, Tokyo (2007); Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles  (2007); Private Spaces Public Spaces, Newark Museum, USA (2007); Act of Faith, Nooderlicht Photo Festival, Netherlands (2007); Bodhi Art, New York (2008); Bodhi Berlin (2009); Rubin Museum of Art, New York (2009); Where Three Dreams Cross, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010) and Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2010); Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai (2011); Fishbar Gallery, London (2011), PHOTOINK, New Delhi (2012); Art Chennai, Chennai (2012); Head On Photo Festival, Sydney (2012); Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap (2012); Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai (2012); and Chobimela VII, Dhaka (2013).

Since 2007, Bartholomew has been working intensely with his father, Richard Bartholomew’s photography archive, exhibiting a selection from it in India and abroad, and producing, in collaboration with Sepia International, Chatterjee & Lal, and PHOTOINK, a photo book bearing the same title as the show — A Critic’s Eye. Richard’s photographs have been acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, and by private collectors [6]. In 2012, Bartholomew also published Richard Bartholomew—The Art Critic, a 640-page selection of his father’s writings on the birth of modern Indian art. 

Based in New Delhi, Bartholomew now works as an independent photographer. His current projects  are a continuation of a series begun in 1987 documenting Indian émigrés in the US. Since 2009 he has photographed Indians in France, Mauritius, and in Leicester in the UK, alongside discovering his Burmese roots in Myanmar and Thailand.