Suvendu Chatterjee
Five Million Incidents

About the Actant

A photojournalist, documentary filmmaker, human rights activist and media entrepreneur, a photography teacher, writer and curator. After being deeply involved in the Naxilite movement (ultra-leftists) during the 1970s Suvendu Chatterjee became disillusioned with extremist politics and sought an alternative way to serve the people of India. After a brief spell as a journalist, he embraced photography as the most direct and universal means of communication. Chatterjee has curated photography exhibitions of Indian photographers in India and abroad. His photography had been exhibited at the Chobi Mela, Dhaka, Tokyo in 2207 and 2013, Cologne, Philadelphia, Milan and Delhi. He won a National Award for the documentary film Making the Face in 2007 and also MIFF Jury Award for the film Mahaswta Devi: Close Up in 2012. He recently completed a documentary film on the legendary photographer Raghu Rai, produced by the Films Division, Govt. of India.

In search of Suvendu is my personal photography project. It’s rather rewinding memories and reconstructing a photography journey. The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let viewers see how I think creatively on my own. Recently I had gone back to the village Gurandi in Gajapati District of Odisha, earlier it was Ganjam District. When I was involved with Naxalite politics, I used to visit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh quite often. It’s a revisit after 32 years. And it was in search of Suvendu. 32 years ago, a child was born in the village Gurandi and named after my first name. This is a project about memories, recollection and recreation of a personal within the political, challenging the stereotypical notions of documentary photography by adding fictional materials.