For many “probashi” Bengalis (a term used to identify a person of Bengali origin, now living outside the state of Bengal) such as myself, Chitpur strikes a somewhat familiar but distant chord. It is a neighbourhood in Kolkata that lends as much fairytale-like charm to its palatial mansions as it does to its narrow quarters. Chitpur was also the birthplace of the city’s cultural and social movements in the 18th century. Kolkata’s heritage structures have been in the news of late, with several projects, heritage walks and an exhibition that have aimed to bring the focus back on the old by way of public awareness and interaction. Once the centre of European imagination, Kolkata remained a key city for the British in the 18th and 19th centuries as they left their impressions on several architectural efforts. The princely mansions were inspired by the European way of life as their interiors marked a unique blend of European design with the Indian aesthetic. An exhibition, “Calcutta: Chitpur Road Neighbourhoods, A Kolkata Heritage Photo Project” at the Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi attempts to observe these very structures, especially those concentrated in the neighbourhoods along Chitpur Road in North Calcutta. Like films that attempt to portray the nostalgia of a forgotten era, Chitpur Road symbolizes a world that lives within the urban geographies of a new Kolkata. The neighbourhoods comprise a collection of narrow quarters and palatial mansions alike, both that represent a hybrid style of form and structure. Unfortunately, age has brought about decay, and despite their historical relevance, they have not been afforded the privilege of being marked as heritage sites with some kind of mandatory preservation interventions.In order to bring this to light by way of a strong visual expression, German photographer and professor, Peter Bialobrzeski (University of the Arts, Bremen) devised a project that archived Chitpur Road’s structures as a historical record. Along with 21 students from the university, he conceptualized large format photographs of Chitpur Road and its residents that would aim to record comprehensively what had been far ignored when it came to the photographer’s vision of Kolkata. The exhibition in New Delhi is designed by documentary photographer Tanvi Mishra, who observes that these Bengali mansions on account of not being public properties, have borne the brunt of grave disrepair. The exhibition is designed intuitively and with focused intention, thus locating sections of the neighbourhoods next to each other in a manner that the viewer is lent a sense of walking on Chitpur Road. The large, manual colour pigment prints that dominate the gallery space bring to life the grandness of the beautiful but tragic decay that the buildings now wear. There is a quiet in the images that crawl out of the great courtyards and corridors of these old buildings, screaming at the viewer with uncanny precision. It isn’t just the myth of a haunting in old structures that is the first experience, but rather a regretful sense of neglect of a place that was once home to the city’s cultural stalwarts such as Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and painter Nandalal Bose. The exhibition also juxtaposes old photographs from the Alkazi Collection of Photography along with Bialobrzeski’s project works in order to study how visiting officers or travellers during the British rule viewed India’s public spaces. When observing the style and form of the new photographs, the cohesiveness of the narrative becomes clear. The photographs depict the places in their physical locations, but without distancing them from their personal histories. Even if there is not a story in the photograph that is easily comprehendible, the structure has its own narrative. It is obvious that collaborating with city architect and conservator Manish Chakraborti in order to understand the area has helped the depth of the project and freed it of being limited by a Western gaze. In fact, it breaks down the myth of distance in landscape and architectural photography, thereby lending a necessary and intrusive second gaze at what can be with much certainty called Kolkata’s heritage district. “Calcutta: Chitpur Road Neighbourhoods, A Kolkata Heritage Photo Project” will be on view at Shridharani Art Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam through February 18, 2016.Follow@ARTINFOIndia
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