Photo Bachpan by Vicky Roy at Delhi Exhibition | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
What does it mean to grow up with nothing and still get happiness? The promise art gallery invited the audience to consider this through a photo series called Bachpan (childhood) by Vicky Roy.
Pictures filled with laughter are a fleeting magic of mood and emotions. They demonstrate flexibility of childhood size from imagination, community and existence, not physical comfort. Vicky’s lens catches children who are happy in the simplest things, even they live in the shadow of poverty and displacement.
Vicky Roy’s photo series from Janwar in Delhi Exhibition. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
His work is inspired by his own humble start. Originally from Purulia in West Bengal, he left home at the age of 11 and started working as a raga picker at New Delhi railway station. His life took a significant turn when he was taken by NGO Salaam Balak Trust, who supported the children of the road.
While reflecting the time spent playing with his friends in our village, photographer says, “We didn’t need electronic gadgets. A ball made of plastic was enough to play and have fun for us.” This is a feeling that runs a lot of his work: the idea that Joy is not to be purchased, but can be made from what is available.
Developed Bachpan more than 16 years, documentation of children’s documents in both rural and urban parts of India, including Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal. In the photos, children are shown to make sports with rejected materials and to make a strong sense of the community and get happiness from what they have. Bachpan provokes a feeling of apathy for a simple time and awareness about childhood that decreases prematurely.
Photo Bachpan by Vicky Roy at Delhi Exhibition | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Vicky has also shown photographs under the series Janwar, which was taken between 2015 and 2018. They focus on a rural community in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. Designed by his friend, Ulrik Renhard, the series catchs the change of a village after the construction of a skatepark, designed to uplift the children of tribal and Yadav communities.
Due to no formal training, the children taught themselves to skate, get up, get up and try again. “The inspiration behind developing such a park in a rural area was that these children have flexibility to get up after the decline and pursue their boundaries,” says Vicky. Today, some children travel internationally, representing India in skating competitions across Europe and China.
Bachpan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Calves and people do not consider themselves vigorously. 45 Black-and-White frame has no heavy message. Vicky’s photography opposes the spectacle. They remain closer to everyday acts for a shared look among friends, a break in the middle of a game, a game in the middle of a game.
Bachpan and public strength lies in their calm uniqueness. By placing the two projects together, it becomes clear how the environment is crural or urban, improvised or designed – the way children walk, play and grow. There is no unique story of difficulty here. Instead, Vicky provides parallel photos of energy, resourceness and change.
As long as someone comes out of the gallery, the question is not the question of what is the lack of these children, but how they have moved forward about what they have created, and new futures are already in speed.
Delhi photographer Vicky Roy | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Riya Kapoor and Akhya Sreeti
In the promise art gallery, D -53 Defense Colony; By 30 May; From 10 am to 6 pm
Published – May 27, 2025 09:03 AM IST
