A photograph taken in Mumbai 2002 by Alex Majoli for Magnum Photos

Ever since 1947, when it was formed, the photographers’ cooperative, Magnum Photos, has been working in India, and some of their classic shots are being projected at Bose Pacia Kolkata on Park Street.

There are 14 participants. While many of the photographs expose the terrifying ugliness of this huge nation (Bruce Gilden’s mangy dogs) there are some that focus on its startling beauty. Alex Majoli, for example, discovers the soft light inside brothels in his project on HIV. Swirling smoke and darkness and light become the motif of Gueorgui Pinkhassov. Harry Gruyaert, apparently, does not believe in formal compositions. His works are quite as chaotic as the Calcutta he portrays.

A mental patient’s out-of-focus face covers half of John Vink’s photograph. Other inmates of the asylum queue up behind the protagonist. Carl De Keyzer finds rhythm in a car racing through a flooded street. The luxury of brocade is contrasted with the shaved head of a Tibetan nun in Martine Franck’s portrait.

Abdul Majeed at the batik workshop

Steve McCurry’s photograph of Rajasthani women caught in a storm is seen so often, yet it restores faith in the virtue of originals. The only Indian participant is Raghu Rai. The foetuses in formaldehyde juxtaposed with a place of worship is a dark and eerie work. Werner Bischof’s lens finds out the Santhal women walking past a giant factory. It is impossible to think of Magnum without Henri Cartier-Bresson. He catches the moments after Mahatma Gandhi’s death and the sculpted body of fisherman as well.

The experience of watching projected photographs is not the same as viewing prints in a gallery. For one moment a photograph is there and the next moment it is gone. You have to wait for a favourite to return for at least 15 minutes.

The Government College of Art & Culture held a four-day workshop on the institution’s premises between May 6-9, when a workshop on batik, the ancient craft (or is it an art?), was held in a large classroom.

A painting by Shyamal Datta Roy

The guest, Abdul Majeed, who along with his daughter, Huma Banu, had come from Udaipur in Rajasthan, gave demonstrations for the students. Majeed was trained in Santiniketan and has tried to keep vanishing arts and crafts alive through batik. He and the students produced some pretty works in which he mixed block printing with batik.

The convenor was Rebanta Goswami, and veteran batik expert Nityananda Bhagat and art critic Sovon Som were some of the participants. Students of the Government Art College, Visva-Bharati, Rabindra Bharati and the Indian Art College participated in this workshop. Later, an exhibition will be held of these batik works.

Akar Prakar is paying its tribute to Shyamal Datta Roy by holding an exhibition of the works of the watercolour artist along with a section on graphics by young artists, who were inspired by the deceased master. These young artists are skilled and sensitive and have a sense of humour too. Two of the best entries are the prize winning mosquito with tiger stripes, a woodcut by Debahish Sarkar, and the toy serpent with a sidelong glance. This is an etching by Amit Manna.