Small talk: Stories in a square
Small Talk with Rahaab Allana
Theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi’s grandson on documenting his archives.
At the ongoing Focus Photography Festival, Colaba’s Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke hosted an exhibition of pictures in collaboration with the Goethe Institut, where nine photographers discussed the idea of migration and the impact of borders on people’s lives.
In 2003, the art history and archaeology graduate from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies was assigned the task of documenting 20,000 images that sat in his extensive photo archive. Allana, who says he shared “an extremely formal relationship” with the former National School of Drama chairperson, spent the next two years doing just that, often “finding it difficult to keep my sanity because day after day, I was looking at nearly 200 photos, and I felt like I knew nothing”.
It also had him realise how illinformed he was about South Asia. “Those images concerned people, histories, geographies and identities. You learn about ‘unity and diversity’ and wonder, how can there be unity in such diversity; when everyone is so different, when every space is built differently?”
Research, he concluded, could help do that in an archive. This became pivotal in repatriating Alkazi’s work from around the world to India. The moving of the collection, says Allana, can be viewed as a metaphor for Alkazi’s life. “Although he had a home in London, and New York, he never let go of India. Aside of being born here, he realised that India was going to be a cultural repository of the future,” Allana continues.
But what struck him more was Alkazi’s deep devotion to Bombay. “His interaction with Souza and Tyeb (Mehta), here, in Bombay, meant the world to him,” says Allana about the founder of Theatre Unit, who worked extensively with Alyque Padamsee and Satyadev Dubey.
Having grown up around “too much drama” (Allana’s mother Amal is former NSD chairperson and director of the landmark production, Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother; his father Nissar is an eminent stage and lighting designer), Allana looked for an alternative. He describes 1998, the year when his sister, Zuleikha Chaudhuri made him act in Steven Berkoff’s Lunch, performed at the NCPA, as, “the most traumatic experience.”
“But in all seriousness,” he adds, “being around family made me conscious about how difficult theatre is. They struggled with the medium, never finding enough support. Theatre became a familiar situation, and I didn’t want it to be my situation. I wanted to meander a little.”
Documenting and researching photos allowed the editor of PIX, India’s first theme-based photography quarterly, to wander.
Glancing at a smart phone that sits on the table, Allana points out, “The idea of selfies, of framing yourself, is significant. It’s got to do with how you see yourself. The focus on personal histories and private archives, and how they have become public through social media needs greater focus.”
Theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi’s grandson on documenting his archives.
At the ongoing Focus Photography Festival, Colaba’s Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke hosted an exhibition of pictures in collaboration with the Goethe Institut, where nine photographers discussed the idea of migration and the impact of borders on people’s lives.
Adding perspective to the images was leading curator of photography, and fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in London, Rahaab Allana, 35. “Are we looking at narratives in images, or biographies and images? Are they representations of reality, or are they fictional?” he asks, referencing a recurring set of questions that often become the starting point for Delhi-based Allana, who spent his fresh-out-of University days documenting photographs from 89-yearold theatre doyen and his maternal grandfather, Ebrahim Alkazi’s Alkazi Foundation for the Arts.
In 2003, the art history and archaeology graduate from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies was assigned the task of documenting 20,000 images that sat in his extensive photo archive. Allana, who says he shared “an extremely formal relationship” with the former National School of Drama chairperson, spent the next two years doing just that, often “finding it difficult to keep my sanity because day after day, I was looking at nearly 200 photos, and I felt like I knew nothing”.
It also had him realise how illinformed he was about South Asia. “Those images concerned people, histories, geographies and identities. You learn about ‘unity and diversity’ and wonder, how can there be unity in such diversity; when everyone is so different, when every space is built differently?”
Research, he concluded, could help do that in an archive. This became pivotal in repatriating Alkazi’s work from around the world to India. The moving of the collection, says Allana, can be viewed as a metaphor for Alkazi’s life. “Although he had a home in London, and New York, he never let go of India. Aside of being born here, he realised that India was going to be a cultural repository of the future,” Allana continues.
But what struck him more was Alkazi’s deep devotion to Bombay. “His interaction with Souza and Tyeb (Mehta), here, in Bombay, meant the world to him,” says Allana about the founder of Theatre Unit, who worked extensively with Alyque Padamsee and Satyadev Dubey.
Having grown up around “too much drama” (Allana’s mother Amal is former NSD chairperson and director of the landmark production, Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother; his father Nissar is an eminent stage and lighting designer), Allana looked for an alternative. He describes 1998, the year when his sister, Zuleikha Chaudhuri made him act in Steven Berkoff’s Lunch, performed at the NCPA, as, “the most traumatic experience.”
“But in all seriousness,” he adds, “being around family made me conscious about how difficult theatre is. They struggled with the medium, never finding enough support. Theatre became a familiar situation, and I didn’t want it to be my situation. I wanted to meander a little.”
Documenting and researching photos allowed the editor of PIX, India’s first theme-based photography quarterly, to wander.
Glancing at a smart phone that sits on the table, Allana points out, “The idea of selfies, of framing yourself, is significant. It’s got to do with how you see yourself. The focus on personal histories and private archives, and how they have become public through social media needs greater focus.”
