Such A Long Journey

An ongoing showcase of painter, printmaker, photographer Jyoti Bhatt, a key figure of the Baroda school, reveals his deep connection to India's rural and adivasi art as much as his influence on post-Independence artistic imagination. It's his largest retrospective in Delhi so far.

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JYOTI Bhatt is a prolific artist", says curator Rekha Rodwittiya, curator of the retrospective on the painter. "The idea behind it was to witness the sheer breadth of an artist who has not only developed a fluency in printmaking, but whose practice embodies many aspects of his identity," she says.

'Jyoti Bhatt: Through the Line and the Lens,' presented by LATITUDE 28, reflects the deep imprint Bhatt has left on Indian art over the decades. Featuring his prints, photographs, and personal writings, the show, drawn from the collection of Bhavna Kakar, director of the gallery, offers a close look at his evolving visual language.

Born in 1934, Bhatt, now 91, is celebrated for his work in painting, printmaking, and his photographic documentation of rural Indian culture. A founding member of the Baroda School of Indian Art, Bhatt emerged as an alternative voice to Santiniketan and the Bengal School, part of a new post-Independence art movement. For both Rodwittiya and Kakar, who share the Baroda lineage with Bhatt, the retrospective is a homage.

Rodwittiya describes the show as an exploration of Bhatt's "linguistic choices," shaped by formal training and a conscious crafting of both visual and textual language.