The lost indies: Pictures of desolation faced by canines during pandemic find gallery space
'I wanted to sensitise people to the plight of indie dogs,' said Chawla, ahead of an exhibition of 60 photographs titled 'Rain Dogs', which opens at a south Mumbai art gallery today.
One of the frames in the exhibit is that of a man staring at the sea and horizon, a dog seated by him. The man, a migrant from Bihar, was stuck in Goa during the lockdown. 'I would see him every day. I have at least 70 frames of him and the dog – pictures of desolation and helplessness,' said Chawla. 'I never found the man later but the lonesome dog was seen on the beach often.'
Most of Chawla's walks were around the Dream Beach, in Vagator. Another picture shows a dog sitting on a shore by the side of a fishing net held up by two poles, an 'erstwhile playground of rave parties, volleyball matches and generally, Goa by the night'. 'Suddenly everything had gone quiet and became empty. With the games and people gone, the dog sits alone,' said Chawla.
Behind the stillness of life and vastness of the beach, the pictures express stories of struggle. As Chawla walked along the beaches during the pandemic, with no other human being in sight, the strays followed him – hoping for company and food. The tourists had disappeared and with them, the scraps and leftovers that the dogs feasted on were gone too. 'But what they missed most was human company. When I walked on the beach I had to avert my eyes from most of them. If I looked at a dog for long, he would follow me for miles,' he said.
Photographing them was no less challenging. Chawla, who has taken pictures of personalities such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past, said, 'The camera has a strange power over people. The vanity of every being comes to the fore when they face a camera. But these dogs don't listen to you. They can't be told to look a certain way or respect the lens.' It led Chawla to spend days on the beach, visiting the same spot 30 to 40 times, hoping to find the same dog in the same corner. 'These pictures are born out of a very careful vigil,' he said. 'I had to wait. I couldn't cajole or bribe them.'
Even though the idea of isolation is the running thread of the frames, the pictures are not sad, framed as they are showing picturesque monsoon clouds, a vast open sea and a gentle yet strong colour palette. 'These are perhaps some of my quietest and introspective works. The pictures show resilience and the inner lives of these dogs.'
Chawla found one of the indies he parents in a dumpster, and two abandoned on the beach. 'The pandemic was cruel to humans as well as animals. Many adopted dogs but once the pandemic was over, there were huge numbers left to fend for themselves,' he said. Post pandemic, while the global pet abandonment rate was 28%, in India 50% of pet owners admitted to relinquishing a pet, said a 2021 report titled 'State of Pet Homelessness Project', backed by Mars, Incorporated, a global business and animal care services provider, he shared.
'Dogs humanise people. Rest assured, if a dog enters your life, it changes you,' said Chawla. Through this exhibition, which earlier was shown in a gallery in Goa in January, he wants to spread this awareness so that indie dogs have a fair chance too. 'Many today buy pedigree dogs, which are often born out of illegal trade,' he added.
Chawla has spent 20 years working at J Walter Thomas as national film chief and creative director, and subsequently took many editorial assignments.
The exhibition, 'Rain Dogs' opens today at the 47-A Gallery, and will run till August 3.
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