homai vyarawalla . the 'recovery'.

"In 1989 a young Indian photographer, Satish Sharma, tracked her down, and began to bring her work, by then in a parlous state of preservation, back into view. Exhibitions and honors followed."


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/arts/design/candid-photos-by-homai-vyarawalla-at-rubin-museum.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

I call it a "Recovery"  not a Discovery. This was the beginning of my project to  recover  an'Other'  '  history of Photography. I had realised that there was more to the History of Photography than the great  White  'Masters of Photography' my mind was filled up by. There was more to that "master' narrative  of History that I had to explore.  That there were" Histories" and  "Herstories" .

Choosing a woman was a very conscious  decision, then. Feminism , after all, had a great role to play in the new focus on Lesser Others.

I  am glad I started with her. There is, though,  a sadness that I carry around . I did not get to complete the recovery project. There were other names on my list .Names who are still unknown. Still lost in the mists of missed Histories.  Hidden Histories that still need to be recovered. .


Holland Cotter  on me , in earlier articles.

For example, in the photographs by Satish Sharma (born 1951), which hang across the gallery from hers, political figures appear not in person but as spectral public icons. A sculptured bust of Nehru crumbles from neglect; the face of Rajiv Gandhi peers out from a torn poster under a commercial sign reading ''dynasty.''

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/26/arts/art-review-many-shows-and-many-indias.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/29/arts/art-in-review-in-black-and-white.html