Watch | ‘A Woman and Her Camera’ – Reminiscing Manobina Roy’s Photography

“My mother was one of India’s first women photographers. Yet, she somehow lived under the shadow of my famous father,” says Joy Bimal Roy, who curated a collection of his mother’s photographs for ‘A Woman and Her Camera’, a photo exhibition that has been displayed in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata so far.

2019 was Manobina Roy’s centennial year and a very good reason for her son to dig her photographs from the trunks and display them for the world to see. 

“Once, at an exhibition of my father’s work, a lot of media had gathered. I found my mother sitting in a corner. I asked her, ‘Are you okay, ma?’ And she said, ‘No one has ever done this for me’.” Joy decided on that day that he would curate an exhibition for his mother.

Manobina Ray’s black and white photographs and the dreamy compositions she created using light and shadow with her Rolleiflex camera are surreal. Today, one wouldn’t find such photographs on Instagram and Pinterest feeds without layers of filters and effects. Every photograph taken by her breathes life. “She has caught moments in time,” says Joy, “they are all raw and unedited.”

Manobina Roy’s photographs give the viewer a deep dive into her mind. Her frames appear as a reflection of herself. In photos of her son and daughter, her motherhood is reflected. Photos of them playing inside the house, colouring a book or reading – everyday activities of children – are shot thoughtfully. They capture not only her love for children but also her brilliance in photography and lighting.

In her street photographs, shot in England, she seems to be taking photos as a woman. It’s her woman’s gaze that is reflected in the shots of an English woman reading a book on a balmy afternoon, two elderly women chatting on the road, or a woman who is window-shopping. What was she thinking at the time, one wonders. For me, she found beauty in the mundane.

Roy’s portraits of Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore are neat professional shots. Joy remembers an anecdote about Nehru’s portrait. “My mother requested Nehru to be photographed by her and he very kindly agreed. In her excitement, she forgot to take the camera reels with her. I’m sure she felt quite bad but because she was a hardworking woman, she requested Nehru to give her a fresh appointment and he didn’t say no,” Joy recalled.

According to Joy, his mother’s work is often labelled as ‘domestic photography’ or called a hobby. “It’s not okay to say so,” says Joy. “Her photograph of Rabindranath Tagore was adjudged to be one of the 25 best photographs of him. They were all published in The Illustrated Weekly of India.”

While Manobina Roy’s photographs haven’t yet inspired many women photographers, they have the potential to do so. Her photographs tell her story, and her story resonates with stories of women and mothers.