MERI RAIL - portraits by Gerry Troyna
From the 10th April until the 15th August 2010 MERI RAIL: Portraits of the Indian Railways will be showing at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. It profiles the lives of the millions of people who live and work around India's railways. Including the tales of the hawkers and street children who have forged a life for themselves on India’s trains and stations.
Meri Rail is a unique exhibition of photographic portraits by award winning filmmaker Gerry Troyna and is a snapshot in time of the people who work for and depend on the Indian Railways – it’s a new dimension of India, a real, everyday and fascinating society rarely seen.
The Meri Rail project began in 2004 during the production of the documentary series “Monsoon Railway” and “Bombay Railway” for the BBC. Using a portable studio with a single canvas backdrop Gerry directed his photographer Achinto Bhadra, to shoot the large format portraits of the people he encountered “along the line".
Looking more like paintings than photographs, the exhibition is a window onto the great and colourful panorama of India. The 100 people on display - freed from the context in which they are usually seen, are not merely being looked at by the camera. In fact, they are looking at us.
For more information and some further examples of these stunning photographs look here.
