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Photojournalist Saibal Das began his career with The Telegraph in 1988. He later moved to the newsmagazine, India Today, where he covered issues such as the Taliban’s invasion of Afghanistan, cultural unrest in North East India, and several of the socio-political upheavals that took place in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Das then went on to work for Outlook magazine, where his photo essay portraying Kerala’s infamous Puli Kali, also known...
Photojournalist Saibal Das began his career with The Telegraph in 1988. He later moved to the newsmagazine, India Today, where he covered issues such as the Taliban’s invasion of Afghanistan, cultural unrest in North East India, and several of the socio-political upheavals that took place in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Das then went on to work for Outlook magazine, where his photo essay portraying Kerala’s infamous Puli Kali, also known as Kaduvakali, performed mainly during Onam, a harvest festival celebrated in the state, was awarded first prize at the Humanitarian Photo Awards in Beijing.

During Das’s stint at India Today, the National Foundation of India (NFI) announced the very first fellowship for working journalists. It was while researching possible projects for this fellowship that the photographer came upon the idea of the circus and ‘circus girls’ – a term loosely used for the unmarried girls that made up a large part of Indian circus troupes, and were always made to sleep in separate tents. Das later published several of his circus pictures in a photo-feature titled ‘Of Human Bondage’.

These images of the circus portrayed the performer’s daily struggles for survival, and their short-lived careers as ‘stars’. The photographs also explored how most of these performers who came from the poorer sections of society, especially the women, had to bear responsibilities far beyond their years. Aside from the hardships faced by the individuals, Das also emphasizes the importance of the bond these young performers share with one another. It was this unity that enabled them to get through each day and overcome the hurdles presented by their social status and careers in the circus.

Das’s interest does not lie in the razzmatazz of the stage but instead in all the sweat and blood shed behind the scenes, "where living and surviving is tougher than triple somersaults on the trampoline.”

Saibal Das was born in 1960 in Chandannagore, near Kolkata. Over the years he has participated in several solo and group shows, the most recent of these being ‘Click! Contemporary Photography from India’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi and Grosvenor Vadehra Gallery, London, in 2008; ‘Mera Naam Joker’ at Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 2007; ‘The Incredible Moment’, ashow in aid of People for Animals (PETA), New Delhi, in 2005; and ‘Saibal Das: Circus Women’ at the Chobi Mela Photography Exhibition, Russian Cultural Centre, Dhaka, in 2001.

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