Portraits of a nation, India

Portraits of a nation, India is compilation of 36 monochrome photographs from India. Most images are very simple portraits of people I came across during my travel across Northern India. It was a conscious decision to work in black and white despite the fact that the colors in India were just so mesmerizing. Having spent a good part of my life growing up in India I have always believed that there is a parallel India veiled behind the hypnotic colors. I believe the monochrome images do throw a different outlook on the life and hardship in rural India.

Rajesh Nair was born in India in 1974; he earned a degree in Zoology from the University of Bombay. He is a drummer/percussionist who studied music at the Academia Musica Moderna in Verona, Italy before turning to photography.

Rajesh studied at the Washington School of Photography, Maryland where he now leads architectural workshops.
His principal interest as a photographer is to document endangered architecture. He also works as a commercial architectural photographer in Washington, D.C. His photographic work has been displayed in various exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
In February 2005 his work was displayed at the "The Photography Show" organized by the AIPAD, the association of international photography art dealers in New York City. His first book "Parallel Dimensions" featuring his photographs from Italy and Bhutan was published in Venice, Italy in April 2005. In Washington DC, Nair is represented by the Kathleen Ewing gallery.
Rajesh has traveled extensively in Europe, North Africa and Asia and has lived in both Italy and Bhutan. Currently he resides with his family in Virginia, USA.