Photographers provide a glimpse of India

January 8, 2010 |

The upcoming exhibit at Indiana University East will feature a glimpse of India from four different photographers. “Glimpses of Unfamiliar India” will be on display January 25 to March 12 in The Gallery and Meijer Artway.

The exhibit features the photography of Satya Banga, Jon Hughes, Sean Hughes, and Philip Oechsli.

Satya Banga, a native of Mumbai, India, is a self-taught fine art photographer. A management graduate by profession, Satya rediscovered and evolved his talent in West Lafayette, Ind. This is the first public exhibition of Satya’s work, a vibrant collection inspired by day to day things that are usually overlooked.

Jon Hughes, a journalist, author, and playwright, is a self-taught photojournalist who began publishing photographs in 1985 at the age of 40. Although Hughes has been on assignment around the world (most recently in India, Mexico and Post-Katrina New Orleans), he considers Cincinnati to be his major ongoing documentary project. His work has been exhibited internationally and his most recent publications include The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Village Voice and The Associated Press. He is director of the Journalism Program at the University of Cincinnati.

Sean Hughes has over 15 years of professional photojournalism and design experience, primarily as the art director for both CityBeat newspaper and The Sondheim Review national magazine. During that time he amassed a collection of work in design, art direction and photography for a variety of multimedia photo shows, Web sites, intranet development, corporate image packages, books, CDs, posters, magazines and more. His photojournalism assignments run the gamut, including NCAA basketball finals, extensive documentary studies in Cuba, coverage of medical team travels to Oaxaca, Mexico, professional tennis and now India. Sean Hughes is currently a working photojournalist and an assistant professor in photojournalism and design at the University of Cincinnati.

Philip Oechsli is a fourth-year photography major at Earlham College. During the fall and early winter 2008 he studied politics, economics, sociology, and temple architecture in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. During this stay, Oechsli tried to capture the daily essence of life in India. Oechsli said it became apparent during his first few days in the country that this was an impossible task to undertake.

“The country presents quite possibly one of the most complex frameworks for cultural heritage and preservation that provides India with nearly infinite layers of tradition to be studied and documented,” Oechsli said. “I by no means intend for this series to be representative of Indian society as a whole, but rather only representative to what is presented within the image during the moment of its exposure.”

A reception will be held for the artists at 7 p.m. on January 27. Visitors are welcome to view the exhibit during gallery hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, call Ed Thornburg, gallery curator, at (765) 973-8605 or visit www.iue.edu/gallery.