Pablo Bartholomew and Aditya Arya’s pictures from 1980s tell the saga of Nagas

A fabulous combination of aesthetic expression and visual anthropology, ‘The Nagas: An Exhibition of Photographs by Pablo Bartholomew and Aditya Arya’ offers a deep and personal look at the 30-odd tribes that are known as the Nagas. Charged with diverse narratives, the exhibition, on till September 15 at the Museo Camera in Gurugram, invites us to get in touch with a people who are often considered ‘outsiders’, if not ‘different from us’.

For both Pablo and Aditya, the show documents journeys connected to fragments of memory or the lure of the unknown. Pablo’s father, a Burmese refugee, recounted wonderful stories of the helpful and kind Nagas when he escaped Myanmar after the Japanese invasion during World War II.

Several decades later, in 1989, Pablo, whose Bhopal gas tragedy image of 1984 is part of the country’s collective grief, set out to find the Nagas, travelling through Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in a four-wheel drive to navigate difficult terrain, carrying large lighting equipment and a generator that allowed him to create a studio on location. Across the misty hills, Pablo encountered a proud community, steeped in customs and traditions, fierce about their identity and cultural roots.

Pablo’s photographic explorations lasted for almost a decade. His 70-plus images at the Gurugram show don’t attempt to demystify the Nagas, but bring them closer to us. There is the photograph of a formidable-looking Ang (chief) of Shingachinyu posing in front of a skull hut. The skulls are connected to fertility rites and warfare. There are portraits of young and old women decorated in jewellery that speak of their connection to elements of nature and skilled handcraft. Here are people (mostly farmers) whose lives and culture have often been disrupted by colonial powers and, later, by government policies.

The Nagas announced their Independence a day before India got its freedom in 1947. Ever since, the state has witnessed long years of conflict. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act continues to be operational in Nagaland, while the Naga Peace Accord of 2015 remains fragile. Even today, the Naga people demand a separate flag and constitution. In some of Pablo’s portraits, one spots the pain and sorrow of the people living through prolonged years of violence, people who are different ‘but not allowed to be so’.

Pablo is equally deft at capturing the times that have often been a-changin’ for the Naga tribes. Photographs of a community tied to tradition juxtapose with people finding a new cultural ethos. Close to 90 per cent of the Naga community is Christian. Pablo wanted to move beyond capturing the exotic. The Nagas have a high sense of fashion — they make a statement about their culture and identity. “I opted for studio-like photographs. They posed like many of us do in a studio.”

He attempted to give them the “same privilege as others get when they do a professional shoot”. At the show, we see Naga girls dressed as models; a wedding service in Kohima includes young girls from the Angami tribe with flower baskets; and a woman in a white bridal gown for a wedding in a Baptist church.

Nagaland of the 1980s appears far more remote than it is today. To the average Indian, the state merely conjures up images of a colourful Naga shawl, and for the more knowledgeable, a reminder of the brave men who fought the brute force of the Japanese army during the Battle of Kohima in 1944.

A large part of the black and white section by Aditya at the exhibition offers a closer look at the life and times of such brave people. In 1984, Aditya visited Nagaland for the first time to create images for the Festival of India. He returned to the state again and again, fascinated by the beauty and folklore of the land. Almost four decades ago, for such expeditions, photographers had to carry films and multiple camera bodies. The beautiful homes of Nagas were dimly lit and needed portable flashlights that had to be powered by batteries.

For the show, he chose to present only his black and white photographs to emphasise their raw appeal and strong visual impact. His photo study of the Konyak tribe is remarkable: images of men with facial tattoos (a sign of bravery), head-takers with skulls, death ceremonies for heroes, women carrying water in bamboo containers, tribal chiefs holding court. The unfamiliar Naga world comes alive. We come to know that the endangered tiger holds a special place in their hearts — humans and tigers are ‘brothers’. Images of a ceremony illustrate their strong bond with the big cat and reverence for Nature.

Indeed, Aditya’s photographs are a treasure for any anthropologist and cultural historian.