Photographer, curator, and activist, Ram Rahman, primarily known for photographs that document post-Nehruvian India, has a trio of photographs at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC that define him as a modernist with a lens that dwells on memoir as much as history within the relics of architectural modernism in India. The three black and white images are an amalgam of street scenes as well as stellar portraits.
Ram is one of seven photographers whose works are currently on display in the exhibit, Body Transformed: Contemporary South Asian Photographs and Prints. The show, at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C., runs till August 17, 2025.
The eyes that fill the mosaic of images
Historical in tone and tenor is a black and white collage of images taken of the Capital Studios, Delhi, 1988. Replete with multiple images and stories, this series of frames within a single frame is about the past. Over the years, Ram, a trained architect has photographed relics of architectural modernism in the country, scenes from streets, political demonstrations and portraits. Alongside photography, he has also been a writer and curator and has contributed to the discourse on the state of photographic practice in India.It is the beauty of the mosaic of memories that creates its own intonations in the intensity of the bedrock of time and tide.
Photo: Folk singer, Delhi, 1987
The portrait of the folk singer is one of distinct directness and a fervour of charming simplicity. Black and white has its own ethos and elegance. The poise and posture both have their own identity in rustic resonance. Historically and genetically Ram is an offspring of pure pedigree. His degree in graphic design from Yale University in 1979 has given him a flair for understanding the nuances of portraiture as well as street scenes that speak beyond the frame.Spontaneity is his inner rhythm filled with cadences of historicity.
This portrait of the folk singer is marked by an archival impulse to document. This image belongs to the Collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.
Bhavai Actor Delhi 1982
Portraiture has historically been about the assertion of power, according to many historians who have studied it in detail and impact.This image of Bhavai an actor seated in reflective reverie, showcases Ram’s keen eye towards details, moments of stillness and grace that capture the social fabric of the country. At once the kinetics of drama plays through the stage scene that enacts its own theatrics. Ram’s trio of images are about the narrative of what is resonant as well as residual. We are watching the images, rather than having them imposed upon us.
This photograph seeks in an intuitive manner to meld the composure and formal attention of art photography within the narrative of a documentary style. Thus, we see the fusion of the personal and the public as well as fine arts with popular culture.We can sense Ram’s instinct for capturing with a sense of subtle softness, the deeper subtext of multiple sensibilities.The famous and the anonymous both become companions of silent juxtaposition.
In the lady’s image we sense a performance, more than a representation of reality. In the two portraits we are also reminded of the role of clothing in portraiture which today has evolved with technology. Before the arrival of cheap, widespread photography, people portrayed in images were mostly an elite class. As photography developed, the ambition to represent an individual essence has become greater.This is the essence of this trio of black and whites.
History says that with photography, from the late 19th century and into the 20th, individuality was a new and valuable currency. In these images we gauge an expression of distinctiveness — what we would call a definitive and unique individuality.These three images state succinctly that portraiture is worthy of being perpetuated and this is the role of photography.Years ago in an interview to me Ram said: “ I have over the years come to believe that the power of a portrait is that it goes a long way in helping us to understand and embrace the differences in our society and pins the cultural fabric in a symbolic way.” And so be it.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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