Pablo Bartholomew is a self-taught photographer and artist with a practice of nearly five decades. Since 1979 has held over 30 solo exhibitions at galleries, museums, biennales, and photo festivals. His work is part of prominent collections worldwide. From 2000, excavating his vast photographic archive, revisiting the period between 1970 to 1983, he created exhibitions like Chronicles of a Past Life: Bombay, PHOTOINK, New Delhi (2012); Outside In: A Tale of Three Cities, PHOTOINK, New Delhi (2013); and The Calcutta Diaries, Art Heritage, New Delhi (2012).
A selection of some of the shows are: Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh, (2018 & 2016), Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (2017), ‘Memories of the Future – Indian Modernity’, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2017, Where Three Dreams Cross at Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010), and at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2010). Month of Photography, Tokyo, Japan (2007) and Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France (2007). Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2006), Nooderlicht Photo Festival, Netherlands (2006 & 2007), Chobimela, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2006), Photographers Gallery, London, (1982) and Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1982).
From 2005 working with his father’s archive of photographs and writings, in 2008, he co-conceived the book and exhibition A Critic’s Eye, photographs that captured the cultural ethos of his fathers’ time, portraying the camaraderie between the artists of his generation. Finally, in September 2012, he self-published Richard Bartholomew -The Art Critic, a 640-page selection of his father’s writing on modern Indian art that intimately chronicles the untold, insider story of the birth of Modern Indian Art, the 1950s to 1980s.
From 1983 to 2004, his photojournalistic work has featured in every major international publication and has won him the World Press Photo award, three-times. World Press Photo awarded him the first prize in 1975 for his series on morphine addicts. In 1984 he won the World Press Photo ‘Picture of the Year’ award for his iconic image of the Bhopal gas tragedy.
In 2013 he was bestowed the Padma Shri by the President of India, and in 2014 he received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government.
He is currently continuing his long-term project on the Indian émigrés, discovering his Burmese roots and expanding on the DNA-based cross-border project, which incorporates textiles and weaving between India, Bangladesh, and Burma.