The Black and White Edition: a retrospective by Ayesha Taleyarkhan. Published in 2011 by the author, www.ayeshataleyarkhan.com; ultrapics@rediffmail.com. Pp: 214. Price: Rs 2,500.
Ayesha Taleyarkhan’s recent book The Black and White Edition is the fourth in a series of volumes produced by this highly dedicated Bombay based photographer. The earlier books were color and thematically devoted to aspects of the city of Bombay and women of India. The current opus is a tribute to the glories of black and white as a medium for photographic expression. Taleyarkhan says, "Pure, minimalist black and white compositions have influenced generations of photographers. Henri Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams, Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, Kim Weston, illustrate a style that is unique and immediately recognizable by the way they use the powerful elements of black and white photography to convey the sense of an image. Even though we have color vision, black and white feels more realistic because its starkness stirs our innermost emotions. Without the distraction of color, the fundamental elements of lighting, texture and composition come together to create a striking photograph, extracting the essence of the image.”
(Clockwise, from top): Renewal; Playing chess in Buenos Aires; book cover, The will to be; Ayesha Taleyarkhan
This is a multi-thematic book, rather than one with a single theme running through it, which makes viewing the images more refreshing and less predictable. The photographs flow in loosely bound sub-categories, ranging from cityscapes to wildlife and abstracts to landscapes and portraits, etc. Many of the images relate to the travels that Taleyarkhan has undertaken from Buddhist monasteries in the Far East to tango dancers in South America. Some are of exotic birds and wildlife in Africa; many others are shot like studies, essentially to showcase the form and texture of various subjects in monochrome. There are a number of captivating street scenes of city life as well as of nature in all its majesty. From Bombay to Buenos Aires, the magic of monochrome comes out in all the images.
Crisscrossing countries and continents, this is a book one can dip into and flip through a section or a few pages or go through from cover to cover and back again to enjoy the wonderful imagery that has been so painstakingly captured and processed to produce a set of pictures that is worthy of compilation into this current book.
The Black and White Edition is prefaced with three insightful introductory essays by noted filmmaker Shyam Benegal, art critic Abhay Sardesai and the author herself. The lack of text accompanying the images enhances the level of the reader’s involvement with the visuals. For those curious about location and titles, there is a legend to accompany thumbnail images in the last few pages.
Taleyarkhan and her production team have done a fine job over the entire 200 plus pages. It is a book that would do itself proud on any shelf or coffee table.
JEHANGIR SORABJEE