Hue Does It

Delhi-based photographer,Hirak Dutta is one such artist who is battling colour-blindness. “There are various bifurcations in colour-blindness. My eyes are unable to see certain colours,saturation and brightness. I may see only parts of red,grey and some blue. I cannot travel at dawn and dusk for more than 40 kms,” says Dutta.

Nonetheless,the 44-year-old has created a body of work that explores colours that he is unable to perceive. His solo titled “Colour Blind” at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society had abstract artwork in a range of hues and over 40 photographs shot across India. If the paintings were minimal yet beautiful,the photographs displayed a compassion for the human condition. “When I am taking a photograph,I go with what looks good to me. I don’t know how the person will perceive what I see,” says the photographer who began his career as a photo-journalist in 1988,while working with the now-closed Congress Weekly Newspaper. “When I started as a secretary with the government of India,I was using a Zenith camera,shooting on film and working as a freelance photographer,” he says.

In 2000,on a motorcycle trip from Delhi to Chandigarh,he decided to convert his hobby into a profession. “I learned on the field and had my first group show,titled Visions,in 2008,” says Dutta,who now plans to have an exhibition every year. The recently concluded exhibition will travel to Mumbai and Chandigarh later this month.