RAGHUBIR SINGH

Bombay, during the period captured by Singh, was equally metamorphosing. Textile mill closures in central Mumbai heralded a new epicentre for an economy based on services, including financial, retail and entertainment. Along with economic liberalisation in 1991 and the ensuing rocketing real-estate prices, the city endured riots, bombings and a plague scare. This series of images was seminal for Singh. He considered them the first time he had dealt with contemporary aspects of Indian life. As he reflected, the work faced the city and its inhabitants head-on, it was ‘direct. There is more confrontation and tension.’ he explains in the conversation with V.S. Naipaul reproduced in Bombay: Gateway to India (Aperture and The Perennial Press, 1994).

While Singh’s camera can be piercing, he also creates ambiguity by playing with mirrors and other forms of light reflections, including through the day-time use of flash. Zaveri Bazaar and jeweller’s __showroom, Bombay (1989) is a mesmerising view from inside to the outside street of shops upon shops of jewellers. Shooting in Bombay Singh had to, ‘trap the movement on the street, in relationship to...static elements.’ His book on Bombay was the result of meticulous editing. Singh saw this process as crucial, as much so as the shooting. While his street photography was bound by an element of chance and accident, often demanding a quick response, editing was a way to dwell.

Time too was spent studying colour, contrasts and form. Before the era of digital enhancement, Singh produced images, like Victoria ****Terminus, Bombay (1991), that pop and stay on the mind. His masterly use of colour was essential to expressing India and constructing a world of images. As Singh put it, ultimately, while focused on Bombay, this body of work is ‘about the transformation of India’.