Capturing woman power For several years now, clicking pictures has been a way of life for UK-based photographer Jenny Borgerhoff Mulder. Her primary area of interest being street photography and informal, incidental portraiture, she first visited India in 2003. Here, she was instantly struck by the variety and power of the colours and shapes that made up the everyday life of the common people. Shakti: Women of India, her ongoing debut exhibition of photographs in the city, features portraits of women from all walks of life. Taken without any preparation, her impromptu images capture her subjects as they naturally are, and are real, spontaneous projections of the way in which women in India lead their daily lives. Aesthetically exquisite, the pictures reveal the genuine compassion and respect the photographer has for her subjects. So much so, it would not be incorrect to state that only a woman could have shot images with such subtlety and sensitivity. Mulder’s like-mindedness and her understanding of what it is to be a woman, allows her portraits to become symbols of natural, inborn feminine power. Unlike many contemporary photographers who document the violence and deprivation of women’s lives, she prefers to show women not as victims of persecution or poverty, but as individuals who have triumphed in the face of adversity; women whose beauty shines through in spite of the sufferings and hardships that are a part of everybody’s lives. Event: An exhibition of photographs by Jenny Borgerhoff Mulder When: Till October 5; 12 noon - 7 pm Where: Genesis Art Gallery, 8A Middleton Street

art

October 3 - November 10 (except Sundays) at Tejas Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, #4007 6042; 1 pm - 7.30 pm: Devi-II — Twenty-five artists’ impressions of Goddess Durga. Till October 3 at Gandhara Art Gallery, Flat 5A 1B Gurusaday Dutta Road, #2280 1790; 1 pm - 7 pm: Fresh Marks — Works by a bunch of fresh artists Anirban Mitra, Haraprasad Tripathi, Mrinmoy Debbarma, Nantu Behari Das, Rajendra Pradhan, Rajesh Dev and Sajal Kaity. Till October 3 at World View Bookstore, Jadavpur University campus: Devi, an exhibition of the works of Gautam Ghosh, Debangshu Das, Partha Dey, Sujit Das, Abhijit Mollick and Santanu Chatterjee. Till October 4 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street, #2229 8641; 2 pm - 7 pm: Pyramid presents the fifth solo exhibition of metal collage by Dr Arun Kumar Majumder. Till October 4 at Bose Pacia, Stephens Court, 18 Park Street; 11 am - 7 pm: Alone in the Crowd — an exhibition of paintings, installations and prints by Josh P.S. Till October 4 at Creative Ritu, 3/2A Chandranath Chatterjee Street, Bhowanipore; 4 pm - 8 pm: Academy of Creative Art presents Himalayan Experience in Watercolour by Anil Kumar Dutta. Till October 4 at Galerie Karma, P-505 Keyatola Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Celebrating Life, a solo exhibition of paintings by Pintu Biswas. Till October 5 at Academy of Fine Arts, Gallery New South - B; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Anjan Das, Binit Sinha, Pradip Chanda and Subrata Barik. Till October 5 at Gallery Sunayan, P-271, B Block, Lake Town; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by yesteryear’s masters: Basanta Kumar Ganguly, Gopal Ghosh, Sunil Kumar Pal, Dhirendra Nath Brahma, Ranenayan Dutta, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay and Krishna Bandyopadhyay. Till October 7 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road, 1st floor; 4 pm - 7 pm: A solo exhibition of collage by Indrani Sen. Till October 12 (except Saturdays) at Galerie La Mere, 3 Regent Park, #2471 2612; 4 pm - 8 pm: Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture presents Durga 2008, an exhibition of paintings and drawings. Till October 15 (except Sundays) at Aakriti Art Gallery, 1st floor, Orbit Enclave, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #2289 3027; 12 noon - 7 pm: GenNext III, the annual show of Aakriti Art Gallery featuring works by contemporary artists below 40 years of age, including foreign participants from different continents. Till October 31 at Gallery K2, Supra Court, 35 Lansdowne Terrace, #2465 1444; 11 am - 7 pm: Contemporary Art on Display — works by Partho Pratim Deb, Paresh Maity, S. Pranam Singh, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Shilajit Ghosh, Nabendu Roy, Sudipto Karmakar, Saumya Kanti Mukhopadhyay and others.

DRAMA

October 3 at Academy of Fine Arts & October 4 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Durgadas Smriti Sangha presents Manansoi Khelaghar. Drama: Ramaprasad Banik. Direction: Teerthankar Chattopadhyay. October 3 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Rangapat presents Jhumjhumi, based on Parashuram’s story. Direction: Biplanu Moitra. October 4 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Dum Dum Shabdamugdha Natya Kendra presents Sparshokator. Direction: Rakesh Ghosh. October 5 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Arghya presents Bharat Katha. Concept: Manish Mitra. October 5 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Howrah Dakshinayan presents Hawa Badal. Direction: Kunal Mukhopadhyay.

DRAMA FESTIVAL

October 3 & 4 at Sodpur Lok Sanskriti Bhavan; 11 am: Sukhachar Pancham hosts Tiner Talowar, the 4th annual inter-school drama festival. Participating schools: Sodpur Chandrachur Boys, Belghoria Mahakali Girls, Sodpur Deshbandhu Boys, Ushumpur Adarsha Girls, Agarpara Mahajati Vidyapith, Sodpur Sushilkrishna Girls, Sodpur High School, Rahara Bhavnath, Ushumpur Adarsha Boys and Panihati Balika Vidyalaya. Concept & direction: Malay Mitra.

PERFORMING ARTS

October 3 at Sisir Mancha; 4.30 pm: An evening of Bengali songs and recitation as part of Sharodotsav, presented by Raag Rangam. Participants: Purbai Mukhopadhyay, Aalo Mukhopadhyay, Gopal Patra, Anushila Basu, nandita Bhattacharya, Dr Tania Das, Suchhanda Ghosh, Mahua Sen, Uma Mukhopadhyay and others in songs; and Jagannath Basu, Urmimala Basu, Chitra Lahiri, Samir Ghosh, Prabir Pradhan, Swapan Basu, Nayan Basu and Shubhra Mukhopadhyay in recitation. October 3 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: The concluding celebration of Mallhar’s golden jubilee features Aagomoni Gaan directed by Alok Roychaudhury, Odissi dance conducted by Poushali Mukherjee, and children’s dance-drama Chalo Jai Chharar Deshe (Choreography: Polly Guha). October 3 at Aikatan, IA 290 Salt Lake; 6 pm: EZCC will host Agomoni Gaan – Bengali songs on the coming of Goddess Durga – to be presented by Chandrabali Rudra Dutta and Sudeb Chattopadhyay. October 4 at Gyan Manch; 6.45 pm: Living with Odissi: Sharmila Biswas, Oindrilla Dutt and the repertory dancers of OVM share with the audience the sacred domain within which they experience and celebrate dance. Also, release of the book, Knowing Odissi.

TALK

October 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Ritananda will speak in Bengali on Swamijir Patravali.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till October 3 at 46 Satish Mukherjee Road (behind Kalighat Park), #24556942/43; 2 pm - 8 pm: Tasveer and The Seagull Foundation for the Arts present Listening Camera, an exhibition of black-and-white photographs of jazz musicians taken by Navroze Contractor. Till October 3 at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11 am - 7 pm: The World of Tapan Sinha, an exhibition of the director and his works through the lens of Sukumar Roy and a selection from his personal archives. It also showcases some of the maestro’s film memorabilia. Till October 5 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8A Middleton Street, #2229 3886/2837; 12 noon - 7 pm: Shakti: Women of India — the debut exhibition in city by UK-based photographer Jenny Borgerhoff Mulder, who has done a series on Indian women.

FESTIVAL

Till October 9 at Sankara Hall, 93 Southern Avenue, #2466 1767: Sri Sarada Navarathri Celebrations 2008, organised by Sankara Hall and Sankara Institute of Philosophy & Culture. Today (Alankaram Vaishnavi): Pooja, Archana at 7 am; Devi Mahatmya Parayanam; Lalitha Sahasranama Archana, Recitation of Slokas at 6 pm; and Sangeetha Seva featuring Aishwarya Sundaram (vocal), Haridas Kalidas (violin) and Ganesh Mahadevan (mridangam) at 6.45 pm.

EXHIBITION

Till October 5 at CIMA Gallery; 11 am - 8 pm: Art in Life 2008. Till October 3 at Photographers’ Gallery, 59A Southend Park; #98303 31556; 3 pm - 8 pm: A collection of sand paintings, glass paintings, pen & ink works, M-seal ornaments and decorative items by Aparajita Dey and Manas Dey. Till October 6 at Darbari showrooms, P-249 Purna Das Road (#24644027, 24658537) & CB 68 Salt Lake Sector I (#40043486): A Milestone, as part of its 10th anniversary celebration, Darbari presents a collection of designer sarees, fabrics, tunics, skirts and accessories. Till October 6 at the emporium of Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road; 10 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of sarees and ready-to-wear clothes. Till October 6 at 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road, #2466 4315: Design’s Puja exhibition of classical sarees.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244