Dance is about a series of movements. Photography is about a
moment. And art is born when moment meets movement.
Avinash Pasricha, the renowned Delhi-based photographer has
an oeuvre of over 30,000 photographs – a historic personal archive – of India’s
most iconic performing artists.
Ali Adil Khan, art connoisseur nonpareil, and Asma Arshad Mahmood, artist and art promoter par
excellence, have curated a small but significant piece of that oeuvre. Ali Adil’s South Asian Art Gallery and Asma’s
Promenade Gallery have come together to host an exhibition of Pasricha’s photographs
titled Moments in Dance.
Effortlessly breaking the shackles of form and frame, the photographs
on exhibit are alive to the poetry of splendour of motion and resplendence of
rhythm. The exhibit is an ensemble of some of the most venerated names of Indian
dance – right from Vyjayanthimala to Kelucharan Mohapatra, and Saswati Sen and
Birju Maharaj, to name just a few.
Ali Adil and Asma introduced Pasricha’s work and then
invited Akhilesh Mishra, India’s Consul General in Toronto to speak, who emphasized the universality of art. Renowned danseuse,
choreographer and legendary performing artist Lata Pada then gave intricate
insights into Pasricha’s work, revealing that he has an equally large and
elaborate oeuvre of photographs of Indian classical singers, and an exquisite
collection of photographs of MS Subbulakshmi.
In a short introduction to the exhibition Ali Adil writes, “Twenty-seven
matt bromide prints of the legendary Indian dancers, vocalists and musicians
are exhibited in various rhythmic forms, postures and moods. These prints have
been selected from Pasricha’s large personal collection of rare ad enduring
images of India’s greatest performing artists.”
Pasricha was the photo editor of SPAN magazine (published by
the USIS) for over three decades, till he retired in 1997.
The exhibition runs from May 27 to June 10.
The gallery’s Facebook
page is: https://www.facebook.com/PromenadeGallery
The group page is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/promenadeart/?fref=ts
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