As you enter the ICCR Art Gallery in Ravindra Bharathi, 35 black and white photos by late Kapu Raghu will instantly transport you 25 years in the past.
As you go through the photos of temples and heritage monuments, you can’t help being spellbound with the composition. Five years after his death, his wife Anuradha, on the occasion of his 52nd birthday, decided to display his work.
Heritage: One of the many temples in Hampi
“For years his photos were just lying at home. They were such beautiful shots that I felt keeping them at home would not do justice to them. So with the help of the government I decided to print them,” she says.
Back in time: (Left) A photo of the Qutb Minar, Delhi.
(Right) A shot of the Charminar through the Macca Masjid
The 35 photos had to be scanned and corrected a bit as parts had faded. “Since they’ve been lying at home for so many years they had faded a bit, but we’ve done our best,” she says.
On display at the gallery are photos of temples like Konark, Hampi, monuments like the Taj Mahal, Charminar, Qutb Shahi tombs, etc. “He was very interested in heritage buildings. His idea was to preserve them, and photographing and showcasing them to the world was his way of doing so,” adds Anuradha.
Raghu was always surrounded by art. “His father, Kapu Rajaiah was an artist and he grew up around art. After some time he even studied art but his real interest was always architecture and photography,” she says.
After he studied Architecture from JNTU, Raghu also studied photography. “Wherever he would go, he would carry his camera. I don’t remember the exact make of the camera but he used a Canon SLR. After his death in an accident, all the cameras were lost,” she says.
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