Tasveer:
Picture Abhi Baaki Hai..Dost
Franck Barthelemy

In 2008, Abhishek Poddar was quoted telling the Indian Express: “Overseas,
photography is now almost a parallel movement. We thought it would be interesting
to explore the genre in India”. They immediately thought they could create something
different, not just yet another art gallery. One of their founding objectives was to
show photographs to the largest audience so they can raise awareness about an art
form considered new in the country. So, they didn’t just open one space, but four:
Bangalore under Abhishek’s leadership, Delhi with Shalini, Calcutta with Kishore
and Bombay with a former partner who has been replaced with Shaleen Parekh. The
network allowed them to organize simultaneous shows in different cities and rotate
them.
In 2008, they added Ahmedabad to the list. More than just opening a fifth space,
Tasveer was interested to support the creation of the photography department of the
National Institute of Design (NID). Every year, they organize talks and workshops
with the galleries’ photographers. Deepak John Mathew, the coordinator of the
NID’s photography department, told DNA in December 2008: “We, at NID, want
to promote photograph and photographers. We adopt different methods so that our
students and photography lovers in the city can get a chance to explore works of
great photographers”.
In six years, Tasveer had organized over two hundred exhibitions in five cities
and reached out to thousands of people. Tasveer starts its 8th season this year with
their signature mix of international contemporary and Indian modern and vintage
works.