Time and Time Again: Jyoti Bhatt

Time and Time Again: Jyoti Bhatt offers a fresh and in-depth perspective on one of India’s most significant modernist artists through the lens of his photographic practice. This landmark publication is the first museum survey dedicated to Jyoti Bhatt’s photography, presenting a thoughtfully curated selection of works spanning over five decades of his career.

Featuring more than 250 image reproductions, the monograph traces Bhatt’s journey from the 1960s onwards, when he began documenting rural Indian life, indigenous knowledge systems, and craft traditions that were rapidly disappearing. His photographs reflect a deep engagement with local culture while simultaneously shaping a modernist visual language influenced by the Bauhaus and his later education in Europe and New York.

The book includes newly commissioned essays and key republished texts by leading scholars and critics such as Annapurna Garimella, Geeta Kapur, Jyotindra Jain, and Hal Foster, alongside writings on avant-garde photography by László Moholy-Nagy and Jyoti Bhatt himself. A detailed timeline, bibliography, and reproductions of the artist’s journals, contact sheets, and prints provide rare insight into Bhatt’s creative process and intellectual world.

Awarded the Padma Shri in 2021, Jyoti Bhatt’s work is held in major international collections including Tate Modern, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. This comprehensive volume stands as an essential resource for readers interested in modern Indian art, photography, and the evolving dialogue between tradition and modernity.