A Pioneer of Street Photography Leaves Behind Strong Images of Indian Women

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By ZAHIR JANMOHAMED

INDIA---A little over five weeks before his first exhibition in the United States, one of India’s first street photographers sat crossed-legged on a bed in his home in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and pulled out one of his favorite photographs. It was an image taken in 1937 of women washing clothes on the banks of the Sabarmati river that cuts through Ahmedabad. For Pranlal Patel, 104, perhaps Gujarat’s most celebrated photographer, the picture was remarkable because it contained nearly every shape imaginable. “You can see squares, rectangles, and circles. You can also see people, animals, water, sky and earth,” Mr. Patel said, his voice rising with excitement. The exhibition, “Refocusing the Lens: Pranlal K. Patel’s Photographs of Women at Work in Ahmedabad,” opens at the Wellin Museum on Saturday and runs until April 15.