Jyoti Bhatt: The Gandhian whose expressive artwork is an archive of India

Jyoti Bhatt was born in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar on March 12, 1934 – the fourth anniversary of the Dandi March led by Mohandas Gandhi. This coincidence always felt meaningful to him. Bhatt’s father was deeply influenced by Gandhi. That association may have shaped the outlook of the printmaker, photographer and teacher indirectly – and sometimes more directly, such as his decision to always wear khadi.

Bhatt, now 91, was especially struck by Gandhi’s advice to writers to use language so simple that even unlettered farmhands engaged in agricultural tasks could understand it. Bhatt says that he has always tried to follow this principle, especially in his writing.

The nonagenarian’s prolific artistic career and philosophies are being showcased at an exhibition titled Through the Line & the Lens at Gallery Latitude 28 in New Delhi. It has been curated by artist Rekha Rodwittiya.

This is the largest retrospective in recent years of the art and practice of Jyotindra Manshankar Bhatt, popularly known as Jyoti Bhatt. The exhibition offers a new reading of the enduring influence of Bhatt on an entire generation of post-independence visual art practitioners. Also on display are his personal writings in diaries and letters.

Bhatt’s lifelong vocation to document India’s living traditions, rural artistic practices and vernacular art...

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