As a child, his father, noted artist and art critic Richard Lawrence Bartholomew, told him stories of his family's escape from Burma, going through the jungles and harsh terrain, and encountering the fascinating Naga people. And that is how the seeds of photographer Pablo Bartholomew's work, 'The Nagas' were sown.
The exhibition, presented by Dot Line Space and Nine Fish Art Gallery featured 71 photographs beside a video gallery showcasing the Nagas' way of life, rituals, portraits, the traditional as well as modern avatars was held in Mumbai recently.
Spending 10 years documenting these people and creating a record of their cultural identity, this Padma Shri recipient photographer started work on the project in 1989. "I bought a jeep with a fellowship grant and customized it to accommodate a portable photo studio, lighting equipment, and a generator. I did not even know how to drive then. That's something I learned on an abandoned World War II-era airstrip in Manipur during one of the trips," he tells IANS.
Talk to him about how he looks back at the early pictures shot during those trips, and Bartholomew feels that they have stood the test of time for many reasons and are a document of time and people. "And as everyone changes and modernizes, there are changes in the Nagas' dress, habits, lifestyle, and living. From a much more rural space, they are coming into a more urban space, several new goods and services -- phones, and the Internet have penetrated their way of life. Things have changed and with time, much has become visually very different. So my document in that sense is pretty tied to a period where they were more animalist and moving from that into Christianity. I feel very privileged and lucky to have captured that period," says this Ordre des Arts et des Lettres recipient.
