Force of Silence

This photograph shows a blind mystic (fakir) discoursing with his daughter on the doctrines of faith. It was likely based on a moralistic play and belongs to a series of images on the same theme. The title of the photograph probably alludes to a philosophical book entitled The Voice of the Silence (1889) by Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891). The picture was awarded a championship medal in the International Photographic exhibition in Liverpool, England, in 1891; this is one of numerous distinctions Shahpoor Bhedwar's work received in international competitions. Bhedwar, a celebrated Indian photographer practicing in Bombay (now Mumbai), studied at the Polytechnic School of Photography in London in 1889. His personal interests in literature, art, theater, and spiritualism are reflected in his work. Bhedwar was among a group of Indian photographers dedicated to art photography, and his works stand out for their artistic, rather than documentary, qualities. Reviewing a group exhibition in Philadelphia in 1893 for The American Amateur Photographer, American photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) wrote of Bhedwar's work: The technical work, which in this case must have been of the most difficult kind, is beyond criticism. The pictures are of a richness of tone and delicacy rarely seen at a photographic exhibition. It will ever remain a mystery how these pictures could have been passed over without recognition, when none of the American medalists approached the quality of this artist's work.