Raj Vala, the famous Indian photographer commented on the exhibition of Ananta Dasa’s photographs in India’s holy city of Vrindavan which is on in the Gallery of Classical Photography.
“Ananta Dasa’s works sound like a melodic chord of music lost in time. His photographs, once seen, are gently imprinted in your memory, linger in your subconscious like a piece of music, and then seep in. And you don’t even realize it,” Raj Vala said.
Ananta Dasa’s photos can’t be described as the European’s usual view of India. The photographer is not perceived by the people in the picture as something alien, his presence is invisible. Dasa is fully immersed in the environment of which he is a part. The artist lived in India from 1988 to 2000, adopting Hindu traditions and practices and pursuing photojournalism, the direction of which he defines as “street meditation.
Ananta Dasa’s most famous work is called Lala boy, God . It has been exhibited several times in America and the U.S. According to Hindus every living thing, be it human or animal, born or living in the ancient Indian city of Vrindavan has a direct link with God. Hence the title of the photograph.
“I started taking portraits of the people of Vrindavan in 1988 in a photo studio that belonged to a friend of mine and his brother. They just let me shoot their clients. From morning till night the photo studio was crowded. All my pictures were in black and white because I had an old camera. There’s nothing better than just loading film. The retoucher helped me a lot when making the photos, he processed every photo with a soft pencil, the process is collective and I would even say that there is a certain mystery in it,” – Ananta Dasa said in one of his interviews.
An exhibition of the photographer’s work, titled “Eight million four hundred thousand steps,” is on display at the Gallery of Classical Photography through July 10. This is Ananta Das’ first exhibition in America in almost 15 years. It features photographs taken by the author in the 1980s and 1990s in the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan. They reveal to the viewer an India that is unfamiliar to tourists, conveying a unique, sacred world. As one of the people close to Ananta said, “These photographs are a glimpse into another world in which love reigns and which gives people support and comfort.”.
Ananta Dasa, real name Arkady Kholopenko, was born in New York in 1960. Graduated from GITIS in 1983. As a photographer in the 1990s, he collaborated with different editions around the world and made several documentaries. Lived and worked in India and the US. On July 3, 2021, Das passed away in a New York hospital from the effects of Covid-19.
More about the exhibition on the website of the Classical Photography Gallery >
What type of artwork or photographs were on display at the meditation exhibition at the Gallery of Classical Photography?
This text is intriguing! I would love to know more about the Indian photographer’s meditation exhibition. Could you provide details on the type of photography showcased? How does the photographer incorporate the concept of meditation into their work?