Kushal Ray’s journey into photography is as unconventional as it is compelling. Born in Kolkata in 1960, he began his career as a sports journalist at The Telegraph before turning to photography full-time in the early 1990s. Self-taught yet deeply informed by observation and empathy, he quickly developed a visual vocabulary that diverged from prevailing trends.
His first solo exhibition, Everyday Life of an Exotic Land (1998), focused on Ladakh, but it was Intimacies—a long-term project begun in 1998 and published as a book in 2012—that cemented his reputation. The series has been exhibited internationally, from the University of Southampton and the British Museum in London to the Singapore International Photography Festival. Ray was also the inaugural recipient of the Dignity Grant, initiated by noted photographer Dayanita Singh.
In this insightful interview with Abir Pothi Editor Athmaja Biju, Kushal Ray touches upon his creative philosophy and visual practice in great detail.
Q. As a self-taught photographer, you developed your distinctive visual vocabulary through observation, empathy, and reflection rather than formal training. Can you walk us through your early learning process—what were the pivotal moments, mistakes, and discoveries that shaped your approach to photography?
Kushal Ray: As a child, I used to draw and paint and loved the act of doing it. My late father Ashim Ray, a Bengali novelist and journalist with The Statesman, was an art lover and friend of a number of leading painters namely Nirod Mazumder, Paritosh Sen, Prakash Karmakar and Rabin Mondal. I took some lessons from Rabin Mondal who told me to draw and paint from imagination. Thereafter, I became more interested in playing football and my early exploration in art came to a halt. However, my sense of design remains the same and when I got an opportunity to take a photograph in Rajgir in 1974, it showed in my first click. The photo found a place in my book titled Intimacies. Much later, when I became a sports journalist with The Telegraph I decided to buy a camera in 1983 to begin self-teaching in photography.
I was a born humanist, my parents used to say. It helped me a lot in the development of my photography and painting in later years. My pivotal moments came when I read two volumes of Van Gogh ‘s letters written to his brother Theo. I got a fillip from these letters and quit my job in 1990 to work as an independent photographer.
Q. I am interested in knowing how your background in journalism influenced your photographic eye, and what made you realize that you needed to pursue photography as an independent artistic practice? What aspects of journalistic training have remained valuable in your artistic work, and where have you consciously had to unlearn journalistic approaches to embrace a more contemplative, intimate photographic practice?
Kushal Ray: My background in journalism helped me to a considerable extent in photography. I was a reporter cum sub-editor in the sports department, and not a news photographer. Nevertheless, I owed enough to the profession as I could see from close works of some very good photographers who then worked for the ABP house. Moreover, the then The Telegraph editor M J Akbar put much emphasis on photography and encouraged all journalists to take good photos for their off-beat stories. I took the opportunity to do many photo essays for the paper which were published with much importance. I trained myself to be good at classical dance photography and that helped me cover major festivals for the paper.
I was passionate about my subjects. In my work, my aim was to give the viewer the feeling that I was trying to convey an experience I had felt profoundly. However, I was asked to worship the adage”Readers’ interest is paramount”. I quit my job to do something I am passionate about rather than speculating about what other people might be interested in.
Q. Your acclaimed series “Intimacies” documented the Chatterjee family over 14 years. It is one of the most powerful portrayals of the domestic sphere I have come across. How did you navigate the ethical boundaries of documenting such intimate moments of family life?
Kushal Ray: If you can truly love your subjects it is your subjects who will give you good photos. In my work Intimacies, my love for my subjects was unalloyed, and they reciprocated equally. My protagonist Manju Chatterjee broke all conventional barriers of love to become my greatest partner in the artistic journey I took. She was the virtual architect of my work. Hence, navigating the ethical boundaries of documenting intimate moments of the family life became easy for me.
Love mattered.
Q. Both “Intimacies” and the project on Ladakh work span decades, suggesting that time itself becomes a crucial element in your practice. How do you sustain motivation and vision across such extended periods? What changes in your subjects and in yourself become visible only through this extended temporal engagement?
Kushal Ray: I am fond of long novels, and always nurture the idea of making long photo novels on family and the changing social symmetry of our time. I read Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks and got excited to learn how Mann handled the trajectory of the Buddenbrook family of four generations.
However, photographing the lives of same people for so many years sometimes created monotony. Seeing the same things everyday made my creative vision somewhat jaded. My ability to create new images began to dwindle. Luckily I came to know some words from Henri Cartier Bresson. He said: “Everything is interesting, everything is new. Looking at something is as if you are looking at it for the first time.”
This gave me a fillip. I started seeing the new in the old.
Whatever changes, whether good or bad, surfaced with the passage of time I took care of them with a humanistic eye. After all, it was my own life which was an integral part of the life I was photographing. It’s true with my Ladakh work as well.
Q. Your recent exhibition at KCC’s titled “No One Is a Stranger: Photographs by Kushal Ray” suggests a worldview where human connection transcends social boundaries. You’ve described photography as “a unique adventure to discover how I am placed with the people I like and love.” Can you elaborate on this philosophy and how it influences your choice of subjects and approach to image-making?
Kushal Ray: Transcending social boundaries is the motto of my work. I try to make sure that the viewer feels my sincerity, dedication, empathy and integrity in the elements of my work more than pleasing pictorial effects.
I like and love people to whom I want to truly belong. This belonging is important. I taught photography to sex workers’ children with much dedication and empathy for two years in 2001 and 2002. It was then quite a vogue among some reputable photographers to explore the red light areas of Kolkata. I had enough opportunity to do that as their mothers liked and respected me and we had a cordial relationship. But I didn’t not take up the opportunity because I felt, I could not truly belong to this world despite having a good relationship with my students and their mothers.
Q. Looking at your body of work, there appear to be consistent technical and aesthetic choices that create your distinctive visual language. Can you discuss your approach to technical elements—light, composition, black and white versus color, camera choice and how these serve your artistic vision rather than simply documenting reality?
Kushal Ray: The aspect of image making is very important for me. To develop it I worked my heart out. I believe in these words:” Take care of form content will take of itself.” If you neglect form and focus mainly on content, it will be like putting the cart before the horse.
In photography, form means as it manifests itself in life. So, it is inseparable from life. An intelligent photographer knows what is content. And she has to nurture the content with the best possible ways I have already mentioned.But to transpose the content into a photograph she has to see it in the intrinsic beauty of form. The other thing a photograph must contain are the humanity of the moment and the photographer’s own vision with emotion and instinct.Together, they can make a good photograph.
On the subject of black and white versus colour, I think no one explained it better than the great Robert Frank who said:” Black and white are the colours of photography. To me, they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.”
Frank wanted to say that by taking away colours black and white photography focuses on fundamental elements and emotions reflected in opposite extremes–hope and despair– a duality of life, experienced universally and is best conveyed in black and white because of the inherent nature of the medium itself.
However, colour photography has its own characteristics and colour harmony always creates resonance of its own. In my on-going work on the Chinese community of Kolkata, l am working in colour to capture their unique choice of harmonious colours in their daily life right from their dresses to tablecloths.
Q. Comparing your early work on Ladakh with recent projects, there seems to be a deepening focus on intimate human relationships and cultural memory. How has your artistic vision evolved over the decades, and what factors; personal experiences, changing social contexts, artistic influences have contributed to this evolution?
Kushal Ray: Time is a significant marker for a photographer — not just the fraction of a second to capture the defining moment, but the passage of time as well. T. S Elliot famously said: ” A great poet in writing his poetry writes his time.” A photographer should be sensitive to her time. Here time is denoted as her working years. A photographer lives to learn and collaborate with her subjects to interpret human experiences. It is a long journey through which her work evolves. In my long working years I got to know and study artists from different fields of art. A kind of cumulative effect, I think, has enriched my work.From Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, Tagore’s songs to Rohinton Mistry’s Family Matters; from Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Bruce Davidson to Sebastiao Salgado, Raghubir Singh, Dayanita Singh and many more; from Edgar Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Edvard Munch, Kathe Kollwitz, R. B. Kitaj, Paula Rego and many more; together, they helped me see things in new light.Added to this is my personal experiences while working with my subjects that are not immune to changing social contexts.
Q. As someone who has taught photography workshops and worked with diverse groups including sex workers’ children through UNICEF projects, you clearly value knowledge sharing. What do you see as the essential qualities that young photographers need to develop for meaningful documentary work in today’s rapidly changing world? What advice would you give to emerging photographers about developing the patience and commitment necessary for the kind of deep, empathetic work that characterizes your practice?
Kushal Ray: Young photographers need to study the history of photography. It is essential to develop their understanding of the medium.
Learning from the best documentary photographers but not copying them will help them do matured work. Their work should reflect what they are. They should love their subjects unconditionally and believe in hard work and not in luck. They should avoid living in luxury. Luxury is the enemy of observation, a costly indulgence that induces such a good feeling that you notice nothing, prevening you from knowing the world. They should stand to sacrifice for what they want, otherwise what they want will become their sacrifice.They should know creative work is not a 100-metre race, it is a lifelong marathon.
Cover image: Kushal Ray | Tashi Namgail with His Donkeys | [Series, Ladakh: A Syncretic Living 1987-2017]
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
