Dhruba Dutta is a photographer, film maker and visual artist, based in Guwahati, India. He is known for his distinct style of imagery that captures the extraordinary in ordinary. A style of visual perception that spontaneously evolved from street photography and run and gun documentary film making.
Dhruba's career began as a magazine photographer for TimeOut Delhi magazine in New Delhi in the year 2006. Here he was known for his creative environmental portraiture, interiors and architectural photography and street photography capturing daily life in the city. In the year 2010 Dhruba moved to Guwahati city and started a freelance photography and documentary film making practice to cover the North East of India, a region he is native to. He did numerous photojournalistic works and short documentary films for various well known publications and productions. Notable among the works produced in the North East are Meleng Journey, Laika, When the river swells, Oil's Inferno, Of friends and Foes, Once and Elephant lake, etc.
Whereas, drawing and painting spontaneously evolved out of his experience as a documentarian. He is a self taught painter/visual artist and in the year 2021 as he dabbled in paint as a coping mechanism during the long covid lockdown, surprising things happened. Ranging from the loosely figurative to the purely abstract, his work spans a wide variety of styles and techniques with bold, vibrant colors and a uniquely illustrative approach. His expressive brushwork and nuanced compositions form a unique pairing that accentuates the creativity of his concepts. Each work has a distinctive voice even as they traverse wildly different domains of art, embracing the surreal, the mythic and the everyday in equal measure.
Education
2004 - 2006
MA Mass Communication, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi
2001 - 2004
BA Sociology, Hindu College, University of Delhi
2006 - 2010
Sr. Photographer, TimeOut Delhi
2010 - Present
Independent Photographer and Film Maker
Awards and Exhibitions:
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Participated in Solo exhibition of photographs as part of the Contemporary Arts Week,Delhi in 2014.
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Participated in a group exhibition of varied arts at the Chinmaya mission New Delhi as part of a Art bazaar in 2007.
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Was Director of photography for the documentary film 'the great Indian Jugaad’, which won the Best documentary film in Stuttgard film fest 2011.
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His psychological photo series on the night life of Delhi called 'Nocturnal' was adjudged Honorable Mention at International Photography Awards in 2009.
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Participated in group exhibition at the India Art fair 2017 in New Delhi with Multimedia art works for the project ‘No man’s land’.
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His photographic works were selected and exhibited at Kolkata International Photography festival 2019.