Indian photographers Ashish Gupta and Jatin Khandelwal, master and student, in an exhibition in Milan, Italy

The most characteristic faces and nuances of contemporaryIndia are reflected in the shots presented by Galleria Francesco Zanuso in Milan in the photography exhibition Ashish Gupta, Jatin Khandelwal. The Master and the Pupil: Two Indian Photographers, curated by Caterina Corni, offered from Nov. 14 to 28.

The exhibition presents in about forty works the dialogue between the images of photojournalist Ashish Gupta, born in 1981, made between 2002 and 2015, and the photographs all taken this year specifically for the exhibition by Jatin Khandelwal, a student of the Faculty of Photography at Symbiosis University in Pune, just 21 years old.

Two young generations comparing, two points of view, two ways of feeling and telling about India and its magical uniqueness, which has persisted since ancient times. A country of contradictions as strong as its bright and harmonious colors and the intense scents of its spices, where the spiritual dimension, of ritual and prayer, is deeply intertwined with daily life.

Both photographers offer a glimpse of their own country and its distinctive inhabitants; in fact, the exhibition itinerary winds its way from Mumbai to Kolhapur, from Vrindavan to Jejuri, from Spiti Valley to Rajasthan, to return moments of everyday life: a woman at work in front of a huge, typically Western billboard, as in Gupta’s shot A women labor works during a road work in Andheri (Mumbai, 2004), or a moment of ritual as in Bid adieu to Ganesh Idols on the 10th day of Ganpati immersion (Kolhapur, 2013) also by Ashish, to a community meal of monks in the far north in Evening meal (Spiti, 2019) by Khandelwal, or the snapshot The desert festival (Rajasthan, 2019) capturing a moment of celebration in the middle of the desert, again by Jatin.

This is India, as the curator reveals, portrayed by the photographer’s eye that “creeps into the streets of remote villages, into the mist rising from the rivers, into the faces and attitudes of people.” And while Gupta conceives, synthesizes, and imprisons moments between objectivity and intimism, thanks to a deep anthropological knowledge of his country, Khandelwal’s portraits are an intense and vibrant alchemy of looks and shapes, faces and colors, people and places, drawn from the artist’s daily experience.

The one, Ashish Gupta, thus makes evident the human spirit that shines through in each image; the other, Jatin Khandelwal, in rendering Indian village life, attempts to construct a new, if constantly evolving, iconographic language.

Ashish Gupta was born in India in 1981 and approached photojournalism when he was only 16 years old. Among the youngest photojournalists of his generation, he expresses himself by capturing moments of everyday and street life, specializing in documenting particularly extreme events, such as bomb explosions, floods, crimes, as well as political and economic events. He achieved his first international recognition in 2002 as part of a photo contest sponsored by the Museum of Photographic Arts in Kiyosato, Japan; since then he has been awarded numerous other national and local prizes. He is currently working as a special photojournalist for the major newspaper “The Times of India” and has collaborations with other major newspapers, such as “The Indian Express” and "The Asian Age." He is currently working on a photo report on sand mining in Bihar.

Jatin Khandelwal was born in 1998 in Brijnagar, a small town in Rajasthan, India, and is currently finishing his final year of studies in photography at Symbiosis University in Pune. A gifted student, he was steered by his parents toward a technical-engineering path at the end of lower secondary school; however, having grown up observing his surroundings and having always been fascinated by the exploration of the exteriority and interiority of the human condition, he chose photography as an effective tool to show his worldview through a creative filter. During his studies he won several photography competitions and obtained numerous awards. Constantly seeking new opportunities for growth and refinement, he held his first exhibition at the Francesco Zanuso Gallery in Milan.

For all information you can call +39 335 6379291 or send an email to francesco.zanuso@gmail.com.

Pictured: Ashish Gupta, Jyotiba Temple devotees visit to participate in the annual temple festival, Kolhapur (2013)

Source: release

Indian photographers Ashish Gupta and Jatin Khandelwal, master and student, in an exhibition in Milan, Italy

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