Pics: Kanu Gandhi © The Estate of Kanu Gandhi
Goa is all set to play host to a rare photo exhibition this weekend, which will provide a glimpse into the father of the nation through the eyes of his grandnephew and chronicler late Kanu Gandhi.
Kanu Gandhi initially wanted to become a doctor but on his father's persuation he came to live with Mahatma Gandhi in the Sevagram Ashram supervising clerical, correspondence and accounting functions, becoming known as “Bapu’s Hanuman”. After his marriage to Abhaben Chatterjee, in 1944, he slowly began to taken an interest in photography. Vinobha Bhave’s brother, Shivaji, while on a visit to Sevagram, was the first one to encourage Kanu to take up photography to capture events at the Ashram. Industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla helped him fund his first Rolliflex camera and a roll of film. Gandhi allowed Kanu to photograph him on the condition that no flash would be used and he would never be asked to pose.
And although some of Kanu Gandhi’s images are well known to us and been reproduced in books on Gandhi, he was never credited for them. This exhibition following the publication of Nazar Photography Monographs 03 “ Kanu's Gandhi, corrects this anomaly and gives a forgotten great photographer his due credit.
Culled from a long forgotten archive, the meticulously researched, painstakingly restored and exquisitely produced book reveal rare and intimate photographs of the Mahatma during the last ten years of his life.
In partnership with Nazar Foundation, Kanu’s Gandhi, curated by Prashant Panjiar and Sanjeev Saith, will open on November 12, 6 pm at Museum of Goa and will remain open for viewing till December 10.
