Latest news with #VickyRoy
The Hindu
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Of dreams and childhood josh in Vicky Roy's b/w frames at Delhi exhibition Bachpan
What does it mean to grow up with nothing and still find joy? Vadehra Art Gallery invites viewers to ponder over it through a photo series titled Bachpan (childhood) by Vicky Roy. The photographs, filled with laughter, are a fleeting magic of play of moods and emotions. They display the resilience of childhood shaped not by material comfort, but by imagination, community and survival. Vicky's lens captures children who find delight in the simplest things, even as they live in the shadow of poverty and displacement. His work is inspired by his own humble beginnings. Originally from Purulia, West Bengal, he left home at the age of 11 and began working as a rag picker at the New Delhi Railway Station. His life took a pivotal turn when he was taken in by the Salaam Baalak Trust, a Delhi-based NGO supporting street children. Reflecting on the time he spent playing with his friends in his village, the photographer says, 'We didn't need electronic gadgets. A ball made out of plastic was enough for us to play and have fun.' It is a sentiment that runs through much of his work: the idea that joy does not have to be bought but can be built from what is available. Bachpan, developed over 16 years, documents children in both rural and urban parts of India, including Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The photographs show children creating games with discarded materials and forming a strong sense of community and deriving joy from what little they have. Bachpan evokes a sense of nostalgia for a simpler time and an awareness of childhoods that are prematurely cut short. Vicky has also showcased photographs under series Janwaar, which were taken between 2015 and 2018. These shift the focus to a rural community in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. Designed by his friend, Ulrike Reinhard, the series captures the transformation of a village after the creation of a skatepark, built to uplift children from the Adivasi and Yadav communities. With no formal training, the children taught themselves to skate by falling, getting up, and trying again. 'The motivation behind developing such a park in a rural area was that these children have the resilience to get up after a fall and continue to push their boundaries,' Vicky says. Today, some of the children travel internationally, representing India in skating competitions across Europe and China. Bachpan and Janwaar do not assert themselves loudly. There is no heavy-handed messaging in the 45 black-and-white frames. Vicky's photography resists spectacle. They stay close to the everyday acts of balancing on a skateboard, a pause in the middle of a game, a shared glance between friends. The strength of Bachpan and Janwaar lies in their quiet specificity. By placing the two projects side by side, it becomes evident how environments—rural or urban, improvised or designed—shape the way children move, play and grow. There's no singular narrative of hardship here. Instead, Vicky offers parallel photographs of energy, resourcefulness and change. By the time one exits the gallery, the question is not just about what these children lack, but about what they have made, how they have moved forward, and what new futures are already in motion. Rhea Kapoor and Akhya Shriti At Vadehra Art Gallery, D-53 Defence Colony; Till May 30; 10am to 6pm
India Today
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
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Published Photographer Vicky Roy has known precarity up close. As a runaway from Bengal who ended up as a ragpicker at the New Delhi Railway Station, to being rehabilitated by a local NGO that restored some semblance of normalcy in his life, Roy has looked poverty in the eye, and is now paying homage to life on the streets through 'Bachpan' at Delhi's Vadehra Art Gallery.
Hindustan Times
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Alia Bhatt breaks silence amid India-Pakistan conflict; divided netizens claim ‘image building for Cannes'
HT City Delhi Junction offers diverse events: Vicky Roy's photo exhibition at Vadehra Art Gallery, Kuchipudi recital at Stein Auditorium, media heritage talk, comedy show at Happy High, and London Market artisan event across Delhi-NCR, mostly free entry.
Hindustan Times
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
HT City Delhi Junction: Catch It Live on 13 May 2025
What: Bachpan – Solo photo exhibition by Vicky Roy Where: Vadehra Art Gallery, D-53, Defence Colony When: May 2 to 30 Timing: 10am to 6pm Entry: Free Nearest Metro Station: Lajpat Nagar (Violet Line) What: Natyollasam – Kuchipudi recital ft Sritanaya Tatipamala Where: The Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road When: May 13 Timing: 7pm Entry: Free Nearest Metro Station: JLN Stadium (Violet Line) What: Lesser Known Heritage – The Role of Media Where: Conference Room I, India International Centre, Lodhi Road When: May 13 Timing: 6.30pm Entry: Free Nearest Metro Station: Jor Bagh (Yellow Line) What: Just Joking – Madhur Virli, Swati Sachdeva & Aakashdeep Where: Happy High, 119, Sishan House, Shahpur Jat When: May 13 Timing: 7pm Entry: Nearest Metro Station: Hauz Khas (Yellow & Magenta Line) What: London Market – Spring Artisan Market Where: Radisson Blu, 1021, Krishna Nagar, Sector 20B, Faridabad When: May 13 Timing: 11am to 8pm Entry: Free Nearest Metro Station: Bata Chowk (Violet Line)
The Guardian
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I focus on the person, not the disability': the photographer on a mission to make India inclusive
For Bikram Bhattarai, getting to school meant being carried by his father, Narpati, across the hilly terrain of Gangtok in the north Indian region of Sikkim. The half-hour journey each way was especially treacherous when the rains came and Bhattarai, who was born without arms, sometimes had to ask classmates to help carry him, too. Now 21, he is at college studying history and enjoys writing poetry and listening to rappers including Eminem and Nepal's Yama Buddha. But his true passion is art, he says, as he shares a sketch of an open palm holding a butterfly, drawn with his feet. Bikram Bhattarai, a college student from Gangtok in Sikkim who was born without arms, loves art and has taught himself to draw with his feet 'Seeing my big sister inspired me. Seeing how she used her hands, I started using my toes the same way,' says Bhattarai. His story is one of 100 collected in a new book by photographer Vicky Roy, who has spent four years travelling across India's 28 states and eight territories capturing the experiences of people living with the 21 disabilities recognised by the Indian government. For the project, Roy spends a day with each subject and their stories are translated and published, one a week, by volunteers. 'I focus on the person, not the disability; to show them not as objects of pity but as ordinary human beings pursuing their simple everyday dreams,' he says. Photographer Vicky Roy collected 100 stories of people living with disabilities to include in the book With its title written in English and braille, the book is part of a 10-year project of the same name, Everyone is Good at Something (EGS), launched in 2021. In February, Roy presented his work at the Jaipur literature festival and has also shown it at the UN in New York and Delhi, with exhibitions in Japan and elsewhere. EGS grew out of a mission by Roy and VR Ferose, founder of the India Inclusion Foundation (IIF), to spread awareness and combat taboos by sharing stories of disability over 10 years and beyond. The IIF aims to 'make India inclusive' by 2030, the UN deadline for achieving the sustainable development goals. Stigma around disability in India is reflected by the fact that the census records only about 2% of the population as having disabilities, compared with a world average of about 15%. This suggests families are hiding issues, and many may not know about rights enshrined in India's 2016 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, says Ferose. Vicky Roy, right, with VR Ferose, founder of the India Inclusion Foundation 'Attitudes have been slowly changing around disability in India,' says Ferose, an engineer based in California, who began working on disability rights after his son was born with autism. 'I believe many respond [to the stories] because we're helping invisible people be seen, especially in rural areas … others want to support them.' Manisha Kumari Mahto, who was born with cerebral palsy, is unable to speak but communicates using sign In Huppu village in eastern Jharkhand, Manisha Kumari Mahto's parents Mahto and Savita Devi at first believed she could be cured when she was born with cerebral palsy. The little girl is unable to move about or speak, but communicates through signs. 'I love listening to songs and I try to dance to them,' she says. Roy has travelled by plane, bus, bike, bullock cart and on foot, even during the pandemic, since he began the project in 2021. It was in remote rural areas that he often received the warmest welcome, he says, and would leave with parcels of food for the journey home. He estimates he has covered about 62,000 miles (100,000km) for EGS. Chhotray Hembram lost his feet as a baby and uses his knees to walk It took him three days to reach Chhotray Hembram, 19, who lives in the tribal region of Ghatkuanri in Bangriposi Tehsil, in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. The area had no mobile phone connection and finding an Odia interpreter wasn't easy. Hembram has walked on his knees for most of his life, after his feet were burned as a baby as he slept next to a cooking fire, while his parents were passed out from drinking alcohol. He had believed 'there is nothing much a disabled person can do'. But Roy connected Hembram with a local charity and helped to arrange training to become a mechanic at a garage about 12 miles away. Hembram is now training to become a mechanic, after Roy helped to put him in touch with a local charity On each visit Roy takes a fund of 10,000 rupees (about £92) to spend on something useful to the subject. In the book's preface, Ferose writes: 'We also had a golden rule: when we encounter a person in need, help them lead a life of dignity. So not only did we write the stories but behind the scenes we also supported people, building a roof in a school, donating a laptop, buying a wheelchair or disability vehicle, giving cricket balls and more.' The book relates many encounters with those who have helped expand opportunities in education, sport or work. Satyavati Pandranki was five when she contracted polio in Mentada, in Andhra Pradesh, and says her parents wanted to give her 'the best education possible' so that she could lead an independent life, after the disease limited her mobility. Satyavati Pandranki has limited mobility after contracting polio as a child. Her life was transformed after she took up wheelchair basketball in her 20s After completing her degree and teaching qualifications, she was introduced to the Global Aid charity in Vizianagaram, which led her into wheelchair basketball. Since then, she has represented India and trained as a coach. 'I was a girl who couldn't travel from my village to the next one. Now I have played basketball in foreign countries,' she says. Playing basketball has taken Pandranki around the world
