"Parsis," Sooni Taraporevala’s reprisal of her October 2012 exhibition of photographs at the Sert Gallery at Harvard (see "Life’s come full circle," Events and Personalities, Parsiana, December 7, 2012), opened at Bombay’s Chemould Prescott Road gallery on March 5, 2013, with scores of her friends and well-wishers in attendance. As the diary page of Mumbai Mirror described in its issue of March 7, 2013, there were "Parsis in the hall, Parsis on the walls."
Photographs from her book Parsis: Zoroastrians of India, A Photographic Journey that many viewers were familiar with were juxtaposed with many more recent ones which the gallery’s press release described as having "been viewed across the world, but amazingly this is their first exhibition in her beloved city of inspiration." Speaking to Mint (March 2, 2013) Taraporevala explained: "My book said everything I had to say about the Parsis. I don’t want the show to say anything. I want it to be a visual experience, I want people to go in there and look at photos."
Representing 35 years of work, spanning black and white studies as well as color prints, Taraporevala’s photographs evoke empathy, amusement, nostalgia, wonderment and intimacy, with each viewer connecting with the subject at a personal level. Some of the photographs are in the form of a series, visual records of people and places she found of interest. Technically the photographs are professional in the extreme with an eye to detail and clever composition, but it is the personal element she imbues them with that makes them special, for it is evident that Taraporevala loves what she is doing. Taken mostly in Bombay, but also in locales like Gujarat where many Parsis reside, and abroad, the 56-year-old Taraporevala told Mint, "I have chosen the photos I like… The show has no agenda of representing everything and being responsible for showing everything about Parsis."
Originally the selection was based on frames that showed Parsis in ordinary situations, on the street, in their homes or at special events, Taraporevala told Afternoon Despatch and Courier (March 11, 2013). But she "felt this was not a fair representation of the community, so I added a section on personalities who have passed away, and called it a tribute. Into this I put the artists, the filmmakers, the writers, the journalists, politicians, industrialists." One can see Dr Homi Sethna, head of the Atomic Energy Commission standing beside a portrait of his pioneering predecessor Dr Homi Bhabha and taxation expert Nani Palkhivala making his iconic post-budget speech.
Though the photographer, screenplay writer and filmmaker "grew up surrounded by images in a family of avid photographers, she only began photographing in 1977, when as an undergraduate at Harvard University, she borrowed money from her roommate to buy her first camera — a Nikkomat," states the press release. Largely self-taught, it was not until 1982 when she showed her collection to photographer Raghubir Singh that he found in it "the subject that had been staring her in the face" — a photographic study of the Parsi community to which she belongs.
The lavishly mounted display will be open to the public until April 6, 2013, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.