When Mother Teresa, the Indian nun of Albanian origin, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta on 7 October 1950, was canonized by Pope Francis in September 2016, he formally acknowledged what millions around the world had always held-she was a saint who walked the earth ministering to the poor, the unwanted and the terminally ill.
Raghu Rai, who photographed her for nearly five decades, from the early 1970s onwards, has taken some of the most iconic pictures of Saint Teresa that exist. He was present at the canonization ceremony in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican and the pictures he took there complete his pictorial biography. Divided into three sections, the book covers Mother Teresa’s canonization, her life and her work, and the legacy she leaves behind. Bringing together pictures that have never been published before as well as classical portraits and action studies this book is an extraordinary celebration of a latter-day saint whose simple message to all humanity was: ‘Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Raghu Rai
Raghu Rai started photographs in 1965. He was Chief Photographer of The Statesman (1966-1976). In 1977, legendary photographer Henri Cartier - Bresson nominated Rai to Magnum Photos, the world’s most prestigious photographers’ cooperative. Thereafter, Rai was Picture Editor with Sunday (1997-1980) and Picture Editor - Visualiser – Photographer of India Today (1982-1991) where he contributed trail – blazing picture-essays on social, political and cultural themes of the decade.In 1971, he was awarded the Padmashree, one of India’s highest civilian awards. In 1992, he received the ‘Photographer of the Year’ award in the United States for his story, ‘Human Management of wildlife in India’, published in National Geographic. His photo-essays have appeared in many of the world’s leading magazines and newspapers. He has been on the jury of the World Press Photo contest, thrice and on UNESCO’s International Photo Contest, twice.Raghu Rai has done extensive photo-documentation of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its continuing effects on the lives of the victims as a special assignment for Greenpeace International.He has 28 books to his credit including Raghu Rai’s Delhi, The Sikhs, Tibet in Exile, Indira Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Raghu Rai’s India and India’s Great Master Musicians. His works have also been published in major books done by Magnum Photo.Rai’s photographs have been exhibited in one man shows in Bunkamura Museum, Tokyo and Museo De Capitolini, rome. They have also been exhibited in prestigious galleries. In 2007, a major retrospective of his work was held at Arles Festival, while in 2008, the bigger ever retrospective of a photographer in India was held at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Mumbai.Raghu Rai continues to be an associate of Magnum Photos and works on personal projects and pictorials.
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