Dear Readers
A warm thank you for your overwhelming response to our first issue! It’s been only a month, and we are out with our second issue of Samyak Drishti already! This is a special issue as we celebrate the work of veteran photographer Jay Ullal who is also turning 87 on 9th Sept, 2020. Yes, it’s a dedication to him on his birthday!
Apart from the amazing heart-to-heart conversations we had with Jay, our Guest Editor of this special issue, Kolkata-based Photographer Nilayan Dutta, takes us back in time and tells us about the photographers and photography culture in Bengal spanning 180 years from 1840 to 2020. You can read about it here.
Dutta also brought to this issue, the work of contemporary photographers from Kolkata and West Bengal whose photos and artwork would certainly linger on your minds for days.
From our special spread of conversation with Jay Ullal to the social commentary on the darkness of social, real and life narratives of Kolkata or the profound analysis of artist Parag Sonarghare’s high definition paintings of bare bodies, this issue certainly promises shifting of perspectives and sensibilities.
Hope you enjoy it! Happy reading!
Editor
Sudharak Olwe
Conversation
Jay Ullal, born in 1933 in Mangalore, South India, was trained as a cameraman and then worked in film in Mumbai until 1957. He then worked for The Times of India as a photojournalist for several years. In 1963, he came to Germany via England. Here, he first worked for the women’s magazine Constanze until it collapsed in 1969. In the seventies, he began working with the Hamburg weekly magazine Stern, for which he wrote extensive photo reports from all parts of the world and especially from crisis areas such as Indo-China, the Middle East and Pakistan for almost 30 years. In 1998, Jay Ullal was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit….
A Little Talk about Taking Pictures
by Guest Editor Nilayan Dutta
Photographers and Photography culture in Bengal spanning 180 years from 1840 to 2020
Brick by Brick
SAMYAK DRISHTI by Amrit Gangar
We believe that organisations are built over time with loads of hard work and selfless contributions. We are happy that this humble beginning has inspired many. Our initiative seeks to lay the foundation of a new discourse and as part of such conversations, we will be guided by scholars from various fields to achieve our mission with each passing day.
We, as an organisation, want to engage with people and their lives. As part of our efforts to reimagine ways of social and creative engagement, this edition includes a beautiful inspiring note shared by Amrit Ganger, a film historian and scholar. We hope such knowledge leads us to gain better perspectives.