Edition 2022

MITCH EPSTEIN

IN INDIA, 1978-1989

Between 1978 and 1989, Mitch Epstein made eight trips to India and shot thousands of photographs. The result is an extensive body of work that shows Epstein’s unusual dual vantage in an extraordinarily complicated culture: Through his Indian family life and work, he was both an insider and outsider. These photographs, many of which are exhibited here for the first time, show a wide swath of subcultures which Epstein was able to enter, showing a deep and extended experience of India, where separate worlds converged. The Abbaye de Montmajour installation features remastered prints from this body of work and is presented alongside two of the films Epstein collaborated on in India, with his then Indian wife, director Mira Nair: India Cabaret (1985) and Salaam Bombay! (1988). These works recall a time that feels both distant and immediate, complicated with politically fraught codes of caste, class, and religion, but simpler without the intrusion of digital technology.

Exhibition co-produced by the Rencontres d’Arles and the Thomas Zander gallery, Cologne.
Publication: In India, Steidl, 2021.

An extension of the exhibition In India, 1978-1989 can be seen at the Avignon TGV station. With support from SNCF Gares & Connexions.

  • Institutional partners

    • République Française
    • Région Provence Alpes Côté d'Azur
    • Département des Bouches du Rhône
    • Arles
    • Le Centre des monuments nationaux est heureux de soutenir les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles en accueillant des expositions dans l’abbaye de Montmajour
  • Main partners

    • Fondation LUMA
    • BMW
    • SNCF
    • Kering
  • Media partners

    • Arte
    • Lci
    • Konbini
    • Le Point
    • Madame Figaro
    • France Culture