The Indians: Portraits From My Album

Raghu Rai’s stupendous portraits capture the uniqueness of India and chart the evolution of portraiture in the photographic medium in the country Empathy between photographer and subject is revealed in every image of The Indians. From princes in royal settings to village craftsmen outside a shopping mall in Delhi; from Mahatma Gandhi to Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama; from Satyajit Ray to Arundhati Roy; from Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan; and from formal family photographs to an obscure artist’s studio—Raghu Rai brings them all together in this portrait of a nation. Divided into two sections, the first is a selection of images by earlier photographers from nineteenth and early-twentieth-century India, including Raja Deen Dayal, Bourne and Shepherd, and Johnston and Hoffman, which have been collected by Rai over the years. The second is a celebration of Raghu Rai’s unique engagement with the lens and a wide cross-section of the Indian people for over forty years. A compelling record of the ambitions and aspirations of the people, The Indians captures the uniqueness of a nation as much as it charts the evolution of portraiture in the photographic medium in India.