To a weary traveller or parched soldier in 19th-century India, there was perhaps no sight as welcome as the approach of a bhishti. A quick untwisting of the mouth of the mashaq slung over his shoulder, and cool clear water would splash into a grateful cupped palm.
Two contemporary creators, Zishaan K Latif and Sahil Vasudeva, on how water flows through their filmmaking, photography and music practice
Tracing the popularisation of the panorama in photography, from its invention by a painter to the pioneering work of Felice Beato
Postcards began at the end of the 19th century as a new kind of crossover between photography and the popular print market. In a collaboration with Picture Postcard Empire, we bring you a virtual exhibition of intriguing postcards from the city of Madras
In a collaboration between Sarmaya and India Lost & Found, we admire the fading beauty of Mandu, home to the delicate Malwa style of architecture
We dive into a study of family portraiture with a set of three albums belonging to John Sinclair, the First Lord Pentland, and the Governor of Madras between 1912 and 1919—and draw out the themes that emerge from this treasure trove of 20th-century photography
Powerful pieces of imagery from personal albums are setting down in history what is otherwise undocumented and therefore unacknowledged, acting as the nuanced subtext that is drastically missing from our public rhetoric. We talk to the curators of these intimate archives
We spoke to Aparna Andhare, Curator of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum about Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh’s iconic portraits of the royal zenana and the man himself
An initiation into the Sarmaya team involves the confrontation of and acclimating to certain books from our library. New ‘uns are told this is necessary reading meant to familiarise them with the genres of the collection. Each object inhabits a world that is resonant and multi-faceted and it’s impossible to know where to start. “Today… Read more »
A 21st-century take on vintage photography techniques like platinum prints, stereoscopic photos and cyanotypes. Plus, an intriguing trail of portraits of Indian women from the Caribbean
“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” As the chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair in the early 1900s, Edward Steichen knew what he was talking about. Portraiture is the result of a dynamic collaboration between photographer and model, both of whom colour the final frame with… Read more »
Discover the magical alchemy of early photography techniques practiced in India
Early portraits in India were taken by foreigners and for a foreign audience. Let’s see how the genre of ethnographic photography has evolved in time
While digital influencers seek to turn online adulation into cash in the bank, our royals had plenty of the latter and were in the limelight to win hearts and minds. Here’s how they did it through their portraits
Photographer and author Chirodeep Chaudhuri curates a virtual exhibition of photographs taken during Sarmaya’s trip to Madhubani
This image shows the Armenian Ghat by the Hooghly River. It is said to have been built in 1734 by Manvel Hazaar Maliyan, an Armenian Trade merchant. The Armenians came to Bengal in the 16th century CE, during the Mughal rule, for commercial purposes and established a settlement much before the British East India Company… Read more »
This view looks east from across the Maidan and the Chowringhee road with a clear landscape of the public buildings and private houses. Chowringhee Road was one of the Maidan’s major streets, and one of Calcutta’s broadest avenues. It was almost two miles in length and about eighty feet in width, with houses on one… Read more »
This view looks north-west from the Ochterlony Monument across the maidan towards the Government House and building along the Esplanade row. The image also captures other important buildings partly visible in the background, such as the General Post Office, the Writers’ Building, and St. John’s Church. In the 1760s, the establishing years of the East… Read more »
This picture shows the north side of the vast open space, known as the Maidan, in the centre of Calcutta, bordered by Chowringhee Road. The Maidan is surrounded by the city’s main public buildings, such as the Government House, on the far left behind the Ochterlony Monument, now called the Shahid Minar. Open spaces were… Read more »
This is a portrait of an unidentified dancer from Western India. The dancer is photographed seated against a very peculiar wallpaper. She holds a hand-held fan in one hand and a small bowl in the other. She is dressed in a very simplistic style with a zari bordered sari and wears minimum jewellery. This photograph… Read more »