Moving images of land and lives captured by a political activist

‘Of land, lives, and lores’, the first exhibition of photographs captured by Vijoo Krishnan, politbureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], began at the Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery here on Thursday (August 28, 2025).

Opening the exhibition, senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said that though Mr. Krishnan, also the general secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha, the pro-Left mass organisation of farmers, might not be a “professional photographer”, he is indeed a “professional revolutionary”. CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary M. Mehboob and footballer C.K. Vineeth, among others, were present.

The photographs were taken during the course of Mr. Krishnan’s political work, during which he travelled deep into India’s towns and villages and beyond its borders. The CPI(M) leader said the camera was a companion of sorts, attentive to the quiet dignity of workers and peasants, the poetry of light on old walls, and the fleeting scenes glimpsed from a moving car, train, or bus. Photography had been a part of his life since childhood and was nurtured by gifts – from his first National Panasonic camera with a built-in radio to his most recent upgrade – from family and comrades.

Inspired by eminent photographers such as Sebastiao Salgado, Sunil Janah, and Alberto Korda, Mr. Krishnan said he was fond of black-and-white imagery. He claimed that it was the mobile phone that had truly expanded his practice, enabling thousands of clicks on the move. The exhibition is on till September 3.