Exhibitions

Lot 28

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Prashant Panjiar
Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar

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The carefully composed and thoroughly meticulous photographs shot by Prashant Panjiar make it hard to believe that he is a self-taught photographer.

Currently placed amongst India’s best known in the field of photography, Panjiar started out on what was to become his career in photography in Pune with a portfolio of industrial shots. In 1984, he joined mainstream journalism with the Patriot newspaper, and photographed many important events including the riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He later went on to work as a senior photojournalist at India Today and then as associate editor and deputy editor at Outlook, two of India’s most well known news magazines, and is also a recurrent contributor to Time Magazine. Panjiar now runs his own organization in New Delhi, Livewire Images, a picture agency founded in 2000.

Ordinary people leading ordinary lives have always been the focus of Panjiar’s work. Irrespective of their background, Panjiar strives to portray the sense of dignity that rightfully belongs to an individual no matter how much they possess in terms of material goods. Referring to his exhibition ‘Kings and Commoners’ shown at various locations in India between January and May 2000, Panjiar explains, “Though the people depicted in my photographs are very different from one another in economic and social status, each one of them occupies their individual space with pride. In the end, I hope, the dignity of the individuals who appear in my photographs will tend to blur these distinctions – kings could be commoners and commoners kings.”

Panjiar has also worked on a number of photographic projects focusing on peasant movements and other social issues during his college and university days. His first self-financed project that received public acclaim was his work for a book on banditry in the Chambal region of Central India. He has also produced the book, “The Survivours – Kampuchea 1984” for Patriot Publishers. His most recent work as picture editor is a book of the most memorable photographs of India from Dorling Kindersley and Penguin India titled ‘India – The Definitive Image’. Panjiar is also one of the senior photographers that selects and then mentors young documentary photographers for the National Foundation of India’s fellowship program. Panjiar has served on the jury of the World Press Photo Awards in 2002, the China International Press Photo Competition in 2005 and the Ramnath Goenka Press Photo Awards 2004-2006.

Born in 1957, Panjiar’s works have been exhibited in several shows. His most recent solo shows include ‘King, Commoner, Citizen’ at the Konica Minolta Gallery, Tokyo and New Delhi, in 2007; ‘The Wall’ in Mumbai, 2003; ‘Kings and Commoners’ in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune in 2000; and ‘Kampuchea Lives Again’ in New Delhi and Kolkata in 1984. The recent group shows in which his works have featured include ‘Click! Contemporary Photography in India’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, and Grosvenor Vadehra, London, in 2008; ‘Tirtha’ in New Delhi in 2007; ‘Ways of Resisting’ in New Delhi in 2002; ‘India – A Celebration of Independence’ in Philadelphia, London, New Delhi and Mumbai in 1997; and ‘India 24 Hours’ in Mumbai in 1996. -
The carefully composed and thoroughly meticulous photographs shot by Prashant Panjiar make it hard to believe that he is a self-taught photographer.

Currently placed amongst India’s best known in the field of photography, Panjiar started out on what was to become his career in photography in Pune with a portfolio of industrial...

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