“These images are the quietest, most introspective work I’ve done,” says Rohit Chawla. The award-winning photographer is referring to Rain Dogs, an exhibit of photographic prints on paper and linen, from his upcoming eponymously titled book.
Imbued with a haunting quality, Chawla’s photographs of dogs in the rain on the beaches of Goa were taken as lockdown forced the world into isolation. “When I began shooting these pictures, more than turning a pack of neglected dogs into a photographer’s subject, I was trying to form a frame around my own vulnerability, my disparate thoughts,” he explains. “Someone once said that dogs have a way of finding people who need them. I think it’s true. Though I fed them whenever I was able to, the bond that grew between us wasn’t only to do with food.”
Photographer Rohit Chawla with his wife and their three dogs at the exhibition
10,000 photos and counting
Chawla walked the desolate beaches to photograph a combination of his two loves: dogs and Goa’s monsoon, using mostly his iPhone, after losing three cameras to moisture. Beginning in 2021, his photography of dogs grew into an obsession over the next three years, ending in a book only after his wife Saloni Puri insisted he needed “an out” as well as an edit for the 10,000 photographs sitting in his camera.
And so, we have a photographer’s personal story, and a select series of Chawla’s emotionally charged images interspersed with notes from leading contemporary writers, including Vikram Seth, William Dalrymple, Shashi Tharoor, Girish Shahane, and Tishani Doshi.
“Everyone, it is said, thinks they have the best dog. And none of them are wrong. Rohit Chawla’s stunning, moving photographs of dogs in Goa are a reminder that dogs are indeed poems with paws, and that those paws can leave their imprint on the hardest human heart. ”Shashi Tharoor Politician and writer
The sparse images of strays, either solo or with a lone human figure in them, are in keeping with the spare style that defines Chawla’s larger body of work — led by “subtraction and a certain graphic minimalism”. A bare chested migrant worker, the “starting point” of the Rain Dogs series, says Chawla, stands looking out towards the vast sea of uncertainty as a stray dog sits beside him, perhaps in kinship or silent understanding. In another moving portrait, Chawla foregrounds an indie sitting alone, the vast expanse of sand, sky and sea the perfect backdrop for the dog; the master of his own fate.
‘What real freedom looks like’
Used to his subjects, including heads of state, listening to his direction as they pose for his camera, Chawla had to surrender to the agency of his subjects and the vagaries of nature in this case. “Beyond choosing the time of day and the quality of light, nothing was ever in my control. Unlike my human subjects, I couldn’t manipulate or coax the dogs to do my bidding, couldn’t predict the moods of the monsoon, or the sea’s erratic behaviour.” What reaches out from these seemingly quiet yet forceful images are moments of joy and connection, of dignity and compassion and, ironically, of a true sense of freedom of the spirit.
“It takes a dog lover with a brilliant sensitivity to dog emotions and body language to catch these moments… Of course it helps that each dog here is a perfect ten. The sea, clouds and rain in Goa, and the complete absence of people provides just that most stunning setting. ”Shekhar GuptaJournalist and author
As Santosh Desai writes, “The stray dog is a creature who makes by the scruff of its scruffy neck, roaming the streets and finding sustenance where it can. There is nothing particularly heroic about strays, but in some ways, this is what real freedom looks like. It makes no promises and the rewards that it offers need to be extracted with hard fought grit, but you go where the spirit takes you.”
The photos and words of Rain Dogs are poetic reflections on the unspoken bond between humans and nature — placing value on what we need essentially to survive. “The images tell a story bigger than I had intended. In some ways it’s a deeply political story [rain dogs metaphorically refers to people who feel lost or out of place, much like the dogs in the rain], and I shared them with the thought that it might resonate with others. I also hope the work will sensitise people to the plight of stray dogs,” concludes Chawla.
“Lockdown produced many extraordinary passion projects by artists and writers around the world, but none will provide more pleasure than this wonderful new look at Goa and the relationship of man and dog. ”William Dalrymple Author and historian
Rain Dogs is on view at The Aguad Port & Jail Complex till February 15 and the Museo Camera, Gurugram, from January 26 to February 14. The book will be launched on February 1 at the Jaipur Literature Festival. All proceeds from the exhibitions will go towards registered animal charities in India.
The independent art writer and curator is based in Goa.
Published – January 17, 2025 12:32 pm IST
