In India

by Mitch Epstein (Photographer), Ryan Spencer (Editor), Susan Bell (Editor)

Between 1978 and 1989, Mitch Epstein made eight trips to India and shot tens of thousands of photographs. He also made three films there with his Indian wife, director Mira Nair. The photographs in this book are the result of Epstein’s unusual dual vantage in an extraordinarily complicated culture: through his Indian family life and work, he was both an insider and outsider. Epstein was able to enter a wide swath of subcultures that included a striptease cabaret, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, Bollywood movie sets, an old-time Punjabi wedding band, and religious pilgrims both Muslim and Hindu. In India is the fruit of Epstein’s deep and extended experience of India, where separate worlds converged.

144 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2021

Reviews

[Saadiya Desai · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book very disappointing. There was no substance to the pictures. My parents childhood pictures were a lot more interesting to look at. It just seems like the photographer was a typical white tourist trying to be artsy and this book might be more so for people who aren’t South Asian to get a glimpse of everyday images of India. If you’re South Asian, please don’t waste your time with this book, I can guarantee you that your family albums are far better.