ART IN REVIEW; 'In Black and White'

By HOLLAND COTTER
Published: October 29, 1999

Admit One Gallery

529 West 20th Street

Chelsea

Through Nov. 6

This selection of photography, subtitled ''What Has Independence Meant for Women in India?,'' is a slimmed-down edition of a show that appeared in Bombay and is sponsored in New York by an activist group called Sakhi for South Asian Women. (Sakhi is a term for a female friend or confidante.) Consciousness-raising is the intention, photo-documentary the prevailing style. Most of the participants live and work in India.

The work is arranged under broad thematic headings -- birth, religion and so on -- and veers between two worlds, one modern, the other deeply traditional and conservative. Some of the pictures tell heartbreaking stories: Zana Briski's shot of an infant girl lying abandoned in a hospital bed, Krishna Murari Kishan's view of the aftermath of a police rape, Sheba Chhachhi's record of a street march led by a mother protesting the dowry murder of her daughter.

Others seem to be more benign: views of fashion models in training caught by Rajesh Vora; Saibal Das's sequence of a bride leaving her parents' Calcutta home, Sheena Sippy's images of women taking part in self-help workshops, Pamela Singh's shots of dashing-looking Air Force pilots playing billiards.

It would be good to see any of these artists in more depth, and solo shows by outstanding figures like Ms. Chhachhi, Ms. Singh and Satish Sharma are overdue. Hopefully, Admit One Gallery, which opened last season and is one of a handful of Manhattan venues devoted to contemporary art from India (others are A Gallery in Chelsea and Bose Pacia in SoHo) will meet the demand. HOLLAND COTTER