At 91, Jyoti Bhatt remains actively involved from his Baroda studio, deeply engrossed in painting, analog photography, and printmaking. His studio, quiet yet alive, is filled with etched plates, photographic prints, and the persistent dedication of a lifetime’s practice.
Through the Line and the Lens, a landmark retrospective curated by contemporary artist Rekha Rodwittiya, has offered more than a tribute to Bhatt. The exhibition, housed at Latitude 28, is celebrating a considerable body of work from the modernist artist. Over three decades, Bhatt’s work has served as a canopy, preserving rituals, resistances, and everyday textures for remembrance. This exhibition underscores Bhatt’s lifelong commitment to recording these elements.
Born in 1934, Bhatt witnessed and shaped the nation’s evolution. He studied in Baroda, then Naples, and New York, returning to dominate a uniquely Indian visual language. His work bridged inclusive aesthetics with accessible techniques, using printmaking and photography to document rural culture, motifs, and the lives of artisans. Today’s digital tools continue his impactful service as democratic, empowering tools challenging hierarchies.
At M.S. University in Baroda, as a founding figure of the Baroda School, Bhatt built institutional frameworks that integrated Indian design with global methodologies. He taught and mentored to promote interdisciplinary thinking, setting precedents that now live within intaglio printmaking, field research, and symbolic coding techniques in self-reflection.
His art and teaching dynamics extended beyond formal study, pioneering collaborations that integrated contexts from rural and urban practices. This诚挚 is testament in the blind printmaking body in the exhibition. Bhatt’s work is more than prints; it is maps of cultural contours. The profound influence of this legacy endures in educational systems being equipped with(fn) his existential call.
