The pioneering photojournalist was adept at capturing beauty amidst the mundane.
Nine infants born at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. A group of Brahmin scholars engaged in a Vedic lesson in Melkote, Karnataka.To a layperson these are but life's fleeting moments. But for photojournalist TS Satyan, these instances have been a charming distraction from the chaos of daily life, and the non-conformist gave them a new definition through his camera. These images have been showcased in a pleasant time-warp at an exhibition of 30 black and white photographs at the Tasveer Art Gallery.
One of India's first photojournalists, Satyan was born in 1923 in Mysore, and for the most part of his professional life remained a freelancer. Many of his works have been published in The Illustrated Weekly of India and Life, besides Time, Newsweek, Christian Science Monitor, Outlook and India Today among others. Though he did special assignments for national and international publications, and had opportunities to capture eminent personalities like CV Raman and Jawaharlal Nehru, it's the common man who finds a special expression through his lens. One is reminded of RK Laxman's penchant for the Common Man. Like Satyan, he too was from Mysore. “There is beauty in everyday life for someone who can see with an acute eye,” Satyan once said in an article.
Satyan is credited with making the ordinary look extraordinary. He once said his fascination for ordinary people who do not hit the headlines began six decades ago. In his desire to photograph the ordinary man, he travelled to various parts of the globe to bring home that fascinating tale. It may be something as simple as a child playing or the artistry of a tribal woman, but Satyan has used the facets of the black and white medium to his advantage. Thus something as mundane as a man at work or someone enjoying a cup of tea takes on a narrative quality in his images. Photography to him was an exquisite art form and a means of communication. His photographic quest encapsulates birth, life and death.
This explains the life-like quality of the lens. Whether it is the traders in Afghanistan or a Bharatnatyam dancer standing in front of the mirror, these photographs have the ability to keep the viewer engaged, quite like the evocative canvas of an artist. This gripping quality also reveals Satyan’s enterprising nature.
The photo exhibition takes viewers through four decades, from 1965 to 2007. Subjects from many parts of the country and abroad, like Delhi, Afghanistan, Mathura, Kerala and Karnataka are part of his journey.
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Through his lens, a 19th century home in Manipal is revealed in its sepia-tinted nostalgia. The courtyard has a tulsi plant and kitchen utensils like a pepper mortar in the periphery speak of a domestic ethos long gone by. Minute details like an urli with flowers and a painting of Lord Krishna complete the picture.
The drama of daily life unfolds through the visually compelling black and white medium, as children watch in fascination when nuns dance for them in Kerala. If these human contours are warm, the image of a devotee offering floral tributes at the feet of the statue of Gomateshwara or Bahubali, at Shravanabelagola, a Jain pilgrimage destination in Karnataka, is meditative and engrossing. This mood black and white masterpiece transports you to Shravanabelagola.
A Padma Shri awardee, Satyan was also honoured a doctoral degree by the Mysore University, his alma mater. He died in December 2009, leaving behind a collection of remarkable photographs, many of which have been documented in books like the German Vignettes, Hampi - The Fabled Capital of the Vijayanagar Empire and In Love with Life: A Journey through Life in Photographs. In 2005 Penguin published his memoirs titled Alive and Clicking.
(“Recorder of Life, Beauty and Truth” by the late TS Satyan is on display at Tasveer, The Gallery at SUA House till August 5)
