Twin Sisters with Cameras

Just days before Women’s History Month began, a wonderful opening event was held for the exhibition “Twin Sisters with Cameras: An Exhibition of the Works of Debalina Mazumder and Monobina Gupta,” in the first-floor galleries of Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre in Kolkata. Born in 1919, the twins took up photography at about 12 or 13 years of age. It was the magic that first enthralled and then kept them engaged for more than half a century. From the 1930s, when photographs were staged and cameras were cumbersome, through advancements that made for a more portable and spontaneous process, and on into the digital age, the sisters made photographs. But they continued to prefer manual controls and black-and-white images regardless of the technology that had put the options of color and automatic settings right into their hands.

Opportunities to photograph together were few, as each married and had children to raise – one in Calcutta (Kolkata) and the other in Bombay (Mumbai). But trips abroad were planned where Debalina and Monobina photographed their children and other sights encountered in London, Paris, Geneva, and Moscow. Their seriousness and dedication is evident in the work they left behind. They were street photographers who curated, cataloged, captioned, and carefully kept their photos, documenting periods and places for themselves, lest they forget. Fortunately for us all, time has not forgotten. The digital reproductions in this exhibition are a gift from the sisters and their family to all of us who are here, now, willing to see.

At the opening event on 24.Feb 2022, distinguished professor and author Sabeena Gadihoke lectured on the topic of the exhibition to a packed hall.

PhotoSouthAsia, a project of the MurthyNAYAK Foundation, is proud to support this exhibition and opening lecture. The exhibition runs through 31.Mar.2022.

[Created 25.Feb.2022]

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