'Jhaveri Contemporary presents Raghubir Singh: Bombay, a solo presentation of photographs by the late Raghubir Singh. A pioneer of analogue colour street photography, the exhibition chronicles the city between the late 70s and mid 90s. The vibrant, dynamic and occasionally surreal photographs capture the city’s character and, as Singh said, ‘the several forces working in Bombay.’ From market crowds to the J.J. School of Art, from the sky-high towers filled with lavish homes to the slum of Dharavi, Singh captures a city of extremes. As Mumbai now undergoes intense infrastructural transformation, the images provide an opportunity to be reminded of and to savour the city’s unmatched spell and tenacity.
Bombay, during the period captured by Singh, was equally metamorphosing. Textile mill closures in central Mumbai heralded a new epicentre for an economy based on services, including financial, retail and entertainment. Along with economic liberalisation in 1991 and the ensuing rocketing real-estate prices, the city endured riots, bombings and a plague scare. Taking this series of images was seminal for Singh. He considered them a turning point in the way he dealt with contemporary aspects of Indian life. As he reflected, the work faced the city and its inhabitants head-on, it was ‘direct. There is more confrontation and tension.’ he explains in the conversation with V.S. Naipaul reproduced in Bombay: Gateway to India (Aperture and The Perennial Press, 1994).
While Singh’s camera can be piercing, he also creates ambiguity by playing with mirrors and other forms of light reflections, including through the day-time use of flash. Zaveri Bazaar and jeweller’s showroom, Bombay (1989) is a mesmerising view from inside to the outside street of shops upon shops of jewellers. Shooting in Bombay Singh had to, ‘trap the movement on the street, in relationship to… static elements.’ His book on Bombay was the result of meticulous editing. Singh saw this process as crucial, as much so as the shooting. While his street photography was bound by an element of chance and accident, often demanding a quick response, editing was a way to dwell.
Time too was spent studying colour, contrasts and form. Before the era of digital enhancement, Singh produced images, like Victoria Terminus, Bombay (1991), that pop and stay on the mind. His masterly use of colour was essential to expressing India and constructing a world of images. As Singh put it, ultimately, while focused on Bombay, this body of work is ‘about the transformation of India’.
Raghubir Singh (b.1942, Jaipur – d.1999, New York. Lived and worked in India, Paris, London, and New York) explored the creative possibilities of photography at a time when the medium was both unpopular and largely ignored. Singh lived and worked in Paris, London, and New York, but made his best-known work in his homeland. Over thirty years he captured India and the infinite richness and variety of its people, places and customs. Widely published in books and magazines and exhibited worldwide, Singh is celebrated as a pioneer in the use of colour in photography and experimental composition. His work has been in many solo and group exhibitions, including Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur (2024); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2022); Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario (2018); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2018); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2018); Barbican Art Gallery (2012); Art Institute of Chicago (1999); National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (1998); National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (1998).
Words Platform Desk
Date 13.4.2026