Mark Chew

Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. As a child, he helped his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station. He is now the democratically elected leader of 1.21 billion people.

This exhibition was created in and around New Delhi in the month prior to Modi’s election victory. The social problems he has inherited seem almost insurmountable. However, they are addressed each day by a people with boundless optimism, a dogged will to survive, and an ability to create things of beauty out of the most desperate circumstances.

The layers of societal and cultural complexity are echoed in the layering of the large giclee prints. By digitally manipulating the photographs and ensuing imagery, complex webs of untold stories begin to emerge.

Image: Mark Chew, Books, 2014, 140 x 105cm, giclee print