Delhi: Contrasts and Confluences

"Raghu Rai is one of the foremost master photographers of our time and an artist of profound intelligence, spirituality, and compassion. He has held solo exhibitions in major cities throughout the world. His work is unfettered by the specifics of place or time. While his native India may provide the principal setting for his images, his subject is humanity on a universal scale. His photographs focus on the relationship of spirit and experience–they are, as he eloquently puts it, ‘moments of substantive contact with the world.’ Raghu Rai’s photographs and photo essays have appeared in most major magazines and newspapers around the world including Time, New York Times, Stern, Paris Match, Geo, and National Geographic. He has held one man shows in India, Hamburg, Prague, New York, Paris and Tokyo. Since 1971, twenty-five of his photographs have been included in the permanent collection of Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. His photographs were also shown in 1971 in the Nikon Galleries in Tokyo. In February 1997, he exhibited a retrospective of his work at the National Museum of Modern Art, New Delhi. Raghu Rai was awarded the PadamShree, which is one of India’s most prestigious civilian awards. He was also invited to serve on the international jury of the World Press Photo Foundation. In 2002, Aperture celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. As we survey this half-century, it is astonishing to consider all that has transpired: the medium has gone through enormous changes; technical, aesthetic, and conceptual. Throughout, Aperture has attempted to remain true to its original mission statement, ‘to communicate with serious photographers and creative people everywhere. We have endeavored to publish and exhibit the work of world-class photographers such as Raghu Rai with the highest ideals and with the integrity and quality that it deserves. It is a great privilege to be able to see and experience the magnificent images of a photographer of utmost vision and integrity.