“These images are the quietest, most introspective work I have done,” says Rohit Chawla, referring to the award-winning photographer. rain dogAn exhibition of photographic prints on paper and linen, from his forthcoming eponymous book.
Imbued with a haunting quality, Chawla’s photographs of dogs in the rain on the beaches of Goa were taken as lockdowns isolated the world. “When I started shooting these photographs, more than turning a bunch of neglected dogs into a photographer’s subject, I was trying to create a frame around my own vulnerability, my own disparate thoughts,” he Let us tell. “Someone once said that dogs have a way of finding people who need them. I think this is true. Although I fed them whenever possible, the bond that grew between us was not limited to food alone.”
Photographer Rohit Chawla with his wife and his three dogs at the exhibition
10,000 photos and counting
After losing his three cameras due to humidity, Chawla walked across desolate beaches, mostly using his iPhone, to capture photos combining his two loves: dogs and the Goa monsoon. As of early 2021, his photography of dogs turned into a passion over the next three years, and culminated in a book when his wife Saloni Puri insisted that he get the 10,000 photos he took sitting in his camera with “outside” An edit is also required.
And so, we have a photographer’s personal story, and a select series of Chawla’s emotionally charged images with notes from leading contemporary writers including Vikram Seth, William Dalrymple, Shashi Tharoor, Girish Shahane and Tishani Doshi.
“It is said that everyone thinks they have the best dog. And none of them are wrong. Rohit Chawla’s stunning, poignant photographs of dogs in Goa remind that dogs are indeed poetry with claws, and that claws can leave their mark on the hardest human heart. ,Shashi Tharoor Politician and writer
The sparse images of stray animals, either solo or with a lone human figure in them, are in keeping with the spare style that defines much of Chawla’s work – led by “reduction and a certain graphic minimalism”. Is. A bare-chested migrant worker, the “starting point” of. rain dog Chawla says, the series looks towards a vast sea of uncertainty as a stray dog sits near him, perhaps in kinship or tacit understanding. In another poignant portrait, Chawla foregrounds an Indi sitting alone, the vast expanse of sand, sky and sea the perfect backdrop for the dog; The master of his own destiny.
‘What does real freedom look like?’
Accustomed to listening to the direction of his subjects, including heads of state, as they posed for the camera, Chawla had to surrender in this case to the vagaries of his subjects’ agency and nature. “Apart from choosing the time of day and the quality of light, nothing was under my control. Unlike my human subjects, I could not trick or cajole the dogs into doing my thing, could not predict the mood of the monsoon or the erratic behavior of the ocean. What emerges from these seemingly quiet but powerful images are moments of joy and connection, dignity and compassion and, ironically, a true sense of freedom of spirit.
“Capturing these moments requires a dog lover to have superb sensitivity to a dog’s emotions and body language… Of course it helps that every dog here is a perfect ten. The sea, clouds and rain, and the complete absence of people in Goa provide the most stunning setting. ,Shekhar GuptaJournalist and writer
As Santosh Desai writes, “A stray dog is a creature that roams the streets with its crooked neck and searches for food wherever possible. There’s nothing particularly heroic about people lost, but in some ways, this is what real freedom looks like. It makes no promises and the rewards it offers require hard work, but you go where the spirit leads you.
pictures and words of rain dog There are poetic reflections on the unspoken bond between man and nature – giving importance to what we essentially need to survive. “These photos tell a bigger story than I expected. In some ways this is a deeply political story [rain dogs metaphorically refers to people who feel lost or out of place, much like the dogs in the rain]And I shared them with the idea that it might resonate with others. I also hope that this work will sensitize people towards the plight of stray dogs,” concluded Chawla.
“Lockdown produced many extraordinary passion projects by artists and writers around the world, but none will provide more joy than Goa and this wonderful new look at the man-dog relationship. ,William Dalrymple writer and historian
rain dog It will be displayed at Aguad Port and Jail Complex till 15th February and at Museo Camera, Gurugram from 26th January to 14th February. The book will be launched at the Jaipur Literature Festival on February 1. All income from the exhibitions will go to registered animal charities in India.
Freelance art writer and curator based in Goa.
published – January 17, 2025 06:44 PM IST
