Theatrescapes: Experiencing Rasas

Dr. Alka Pande has specialized in the history of art and in critical art theory. She was Head of the Department of Fine Arts in Panjab University, Chandigarh. Her published works include From Mustard Fields to Disco Lights, a book that studied the folk music and performers of Punjab, and Indian Erotica, a serious purview of a genre often trivialized in art studies. Presently an art consultant with India Habitat Centre, Delhi, and curator of their Visual Arts Gallery, Dr. Pande also works as an independent curator and has curated a number of important exhibitions in India and abroad. She was born in Calcutta, but later acquired her academic experience from the universities of London, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chandigarh. Dr. Pande combines her study of the arts with an interest in music and dance, yoga and cooking. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and daughter.

Shobha took up photography as a child with a ‘Roliflex camera’. Later, she was gifted a Yashika. Her most memorable photo is of the sunrise from Kanyakumari taken in 1960. In 1969, she bought a Nikon to capture the Sriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra’s production. She focused the spot of action. The result was wonderful images. From then on, there was no looking back for her. She graduated from the Kendra’s ballets to music. Shobha’s knowledge of the intricacies of music and dance brought the dramatic moment alive. Her turning point came in 1996, when E. Alkazi held a solo photo show of hers at Shridharani Art Gallery. In the words of Alkazi: ‘Her dogged and indefatigable persistence is rewarded by the images captured as a result of her swift, instinctive reflexes.’ He again invited her to display at Art Heritage in Triveni. In between, Shobha had been invited by the India Habitat Centre to showcase images of women in performing arts on the occasion of International Women’s Day. She exhibited her images in 2011 at the Nehru Centre, London. Her photographs have appeared in leading dailies and magazines.