This exhibition presents contemporary Indian photography and video art of the last quarter century, ranging from straightforward photojournalism to highly contrived personal expressions. The twenty-eight artists included in this exhibition provide rich insights into the dynamics shaping the contemporary Indian psyche and social sphere, including deeply rooted cultural practices, dramatic economic and political shifts and the pervasive influence of the media. As they use their cameras to observe, analyze, interpret and subvert, these artists traverse many realms of experience, from the inescapable shared spectacle of the worlds of politics and Bollywood to the enigmatic territory of the artists' imagination. They investigate identity as a social construct, engage issues of gender and sexuality, and explore the effects of population migrations. As a result, the lens moves from the street to the home and from the body politic to the body of the artist.

Increasingly, Indian photographers and video artists insist that their work be more than simply a visual record that mirrors an easily discernable world. They have found more subjective ways to engage the Indian and global social domains, often performing for the camera and constructing narratives. With insight and poignancy, honesty and audacity, humor and irony, these artists create works with many levels of meaning. They encourage us to look beyond the surface, and to consider India anew.

Street photography in India reached maturity by the 1980s. Indian photographers captured their social landscape with a skillful sense of timing and composition. With clever insight, and at times with wry wit, contemporary street photographers continue to make ironic contrasts between the inflections of sudden social upheaval and the rhythms of everyday life. Their views of the monumental and the incidental within Indian life are equally striking, creating a uniquely humanized understanding of even the most momentous historical events.

Some of these street photographers are especially attuned to both the subject of their pictures and the structure of their compositions, creating complex layers of pictorial space through reflections and juxtapositions of interior and exterior.

Many artists explore the way Indian popular culture—in the form of media images in film, advertising, and television—shapes identity and permeates people’s private lives. For example, some artists examine the interplay of Bollywood, the beauty industry, and the tinsel promise of fame as it extends into the lives of ordinary people.

More and more Indian artists include images of themselves in their work. Rather than using their cameras simply to record the world as they find it, these artists construct narratives, play roles, and perform for the camera. Cultural imperialism, patriarchy, gender, and sexuality all become topics of investigation as the artists step in front of the camera and become not just makers of images, but part of the image themselves.

For contemporary Indian photographers and video artists, self exploration of the subjective world can be deadly serious or whimsical and playful. They draw upon sources such as classical writing, family photo archives, personalized rituals, and competing experiences of urban and rural India.

In the hands of some artists, photography and video can be highly personal means of expression. For these artists, the camera serves as a tool for investigating the intimacies of memory, desire, and spirituality. Often this subjective expression does not aspire to legibility; instead it remains evocative and open-ended.

Photographers have used varied means to examine cross-cultural experiences in India and abroad. These strategies include relatively straightforward photo essays on Indians abroad who struggle to reconcile competing cultural traditions and values. Other artists prefer to construct and perform, using performance and self-portraiture to address national and racial identity. Still others explore deeply private realms of interpersonal relationships, sexuality, and AIDS. As a whole, the work of these artists sets up a dialogue between entrenched values and shifting global identities.