‘Gifts of Solitude’ – the title of photographer Ashvin Mehta’s book had me hooked. Ironically, I picked it off a footpath sale near Churchgate station, Mumbai . Going through it was akin to hearing a minimal Miles Davis rendition after a long overdose of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Each of his evocative black and white seascape pictures, taken along the Mumbai coast forced one to step into an unexplored realm. Rabindranath Tagore’s magical words alongside the pictures took creative expression to a transcendental level. It was a work of art borne out of deep contemplation.
“Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s total communion with nature led to an outpouring of verse and prose that enriched world literature. Today, half a century later, Ashvin Mehta captures on film the same primal nature-scapes with a mind’s eye that mirrors and complements that of the poet.”
“Through Mehta’s lens the ordinary takes on a metaphysical timbre. Rocks become sculpture. A stray strand of grass becomes a maze, drawing us towards its vortex. A wave returning to the sea leaves an imprint that stirs memories of the first life on earth,” wrote a top photography critic.
Years later, I came across another book – Coasts of India – at a serene book shop (Timeless Art Book Studio) in middle of chaotic South Extension, Delhi. This was a journey into the heart of coastal India. Ashvin, this time round, successfully held a mirror to life along India’s fascinating coast through his pictures. A way of life shaped by cross-cultural influences! India’s coasts were on the ancient & medieval trading routes frequented by European, African, Middle and Far Eastern merchants.
His choice of subjects, level of understanding, and depth of feeling and power of expression had long made me an unabashed admirer. As luck would have it, my role an editor brought me in close touch with him a decade later.
‘Bicycle – A Celebration’ his new offing is a contemplative gaze at a contraption that means different things to its wide range of users. With rising global pollution, it has once again come into sharp focus. Notes Ashvin in the book introduction: “It all started with a ten-day assignment for an international airline. I had to cover Amsterdam and its environs, but was asked specifically to take unusual photos of bicycles. I was surprised and amused – not unlike a photographer from a non-Asian country, visiting India for the first time and asked to photograph rikshaws. As I set my mental compass and stepped out of the hotel, I realized how the bicycle has become part of the Dutch body and psyche. I almost fantasized that the Dutch were conceived, born and brought up on the bicycle! I still believe a Dutch child would take to the bicycle like a baby fish to water!”
photo 1 – Zermatt, Switzerland
photo 2 – Zermatt, Switzerland
photo 3 -Edinburgh, UK
photo 4 – New York, USA
photo 5 – New England, USA
photo 6 – St. Moritz, Switzerland
photo 7 – Udaipur, India
photo 8 – Scotland, UK
photo 9 – Aiyer’s Rock, Central Australia
photo 10 – Udaipur, India
photo 11 – Zurich, Switzerland
photo 12 – Arizona, USA
“All around I saw the many hued bicycles in different sizes – old and new, tied to anything rising straight from the ground – a lamp-post, a tree or the ramp of a staircase supported on tiny pillars – with every conceivable chain and lock. Most of them were let loose on the streets like stray cattle in a typical Indian town. Slowly, this simple contraption for commuting, a sort of extension of human legs, was transformed for me into a mystical object of art.”
Ashvin approaches his subject like an artist would approach a portrait. Each shot has a bicycle as a model posing for his lens. And each of his frames has a strong sense of place, and is indicative of the owner’s way of life. For some it is a source of – joy (children), meditation (cycling in the countryside, quiet suburb), sport, environmental consciousness; for others simply a means of transport out of compulsion. All along the photographer’s deep empathy for his subject (and its users) is all pervasive.
“In celebrating the bicycle, I celebrate the contraption invented by humans to move forward faster, without using any energy except that generated by their legs. I also celebrate the future, the heralding of an era, in which mankind would have learnt to utilize the many sources of renewable energy – the new age, free of fossil fuels and the resultant pollution. But all the more, I celebrate our joyful inter-dependence, the never-ending rãs, the cosmic circular dance, where every gopi has a Krishna to dance with, and still He stands in the centre playing the divine flute.”
If one sees the pictures in isolation as works of art it might not seem too impressive. But align yourself with Ashvin’s overall philosophy and vision behind the book, and it takes an all new meaning. He is the Ruskin Bond of Indian photography.
Publisher: Archer, Archer House, Opp. Gujarat Tennis Academy, Gurukul Road, Ahmedabad
Email: archer@archerindia.com
Great reading. Had the pleasure of meeting Ashwin Mehta many years ago. Have two of his books, one on the Coasts of India, the other on the Himalayas. He is one of India’s greatest photographers