Some choice selections from Satish Sharma’s collection of Indian studio photographs. Sharma’s definitive collection is made up of studio portraits that he stumbled upon at flea markets in India during the 1990s:

“This selection of street images from The Satish Sharma Collection reveals the popular face of photography in India. These are the signs and icons of their times. This collection is an attempt to recover and define an alternative cultural heritage — a post-colonial history and an Indian non-Western cultural identity. The studios of India’s ‘rotiographers’ allow ordinary men and women to act out their fantasies: the studio supplies the props and backgrounds, you choose who you want to be. Compellingly combining the imagined and the real, these images challenge Western stereotypes of India and bring us face to face with a vibrant vernacular culture.”