Espen Rasmussen, photographer and co-editor of The Norwegian Journal of Photography, will be moderator.

For more than 50 years, the Indian photographer has documented some of the largest, most momentous historical events in his home country and on the sub-continent, in addition to shooting portraits of familiar figures such as Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. The 74-year-old Raghu Rai continues to be very active, having published 40 photo books so far, in addition to having a number of retrospective exhibitions the world over, e.g. in Museo Dei Capitolini in Italy and at the Rencontres D’Arles in France.

In November, the Magnum photographer will be visiting Norway, where he will talk about how he has been witness to tremendous change in India over the past 50 years, the war in Bangladesh, the unrest in Kashmir, the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc. Some of his most famous photographs are from the Bhopal disaster in India. The pictures were decisive in shaping the West’s opinion of the tragic gas accident in which thousands were killed and more than half a million people hurt.

Raghu Rai was invited to join Magnum Photo in 1971 by one of the founders, Henrik Cartier Bresson. At that time, he had already spent several years taking photographs of Indian citizens in cities and villages all across the country. At that time, it was not easy to make a living as a photographer in India, but Raghu Rai’s charisma and his way with people were renowned for affecting everyone with whom he came into contact. This has made his photographs important documentation of India’s untold history. The photographer talks about his work as follows:

“To me the camera is an instrument for learning. When you look through it, you start achieving a kind of concentration. In these concentrated moments you penetrate and discover the unseen – the unknown. It’s a learning of the self and the world.”

The event is free of charge and open to the public.
Link to the Facebook event.