INDIA: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art will present 48
contemporary artists and collectives working in dialogue with the long
history and emergent future of India and its people. The book will focus
on the contemporary moment, and a range of approaches will be included,
including art photography, contemporary practices, installation, moving
image, journalistic and documentary photography. Themes include caste
and class, the partitioning of the sub-continent, gender and sexuality,
conflict, religion, nationalism, new technologies and developments, the
environment, human settlement, and migration. As a large, multilingual
subcontinent, India has always relied on images to maintain a cohesive
whole across myriad subcultures, regions, castes and languages. The
introduction of photomechanical imaging in the nineteenth century
enabled the rapid reproduction and dissemination of both spiritual and
scientific ideals, states author and editor Sunil Gupta, continuing,
Photography for most of its history was too expensive and technical and
was left in the hands of 'experts' -- until the birth of digital
technologies. The book will address the legacy of the last twenty years,
a period when photography and moving image media have been consistently
included within critical exhibitions of fine art. INDIA: Contemporary
Photographic and New Media Art is edited by Steven Evans, curator and
FotoFest Executive Director and Sunil Gupta, Delhi-born artist and
curator. The book is introduced by Steven Evans and includes essays from
experts on the region and contemporary art: Zahid R. Chaudhary, Sunil
Gupta and Gayatri Sinha.
