{"id":11,"date":"2007-11-14T14:05:16","date_gmt":"2007-11-14T22:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bombayjadoo.com\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2013-01-14T16:43:41","modified_gmt":"2013-01-15T00:43:41","slug":"reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/?page_id=11","title":{"rendered":"Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Desiclub.com<\/a>, <\/em>A book that captures the very essence of Bombay\u2026.Betsy has done a profound job in showcasing Bombay\u2019s charm to the rest of the world through her lens. 11\/21\/07<\/p>\n

The Indian Express<\/em><\/a>, North American edition 11\/09\/07<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything else, Bombay Jadoo is testimony to the rich imagination of a high caliber artist: the cavernous city\u2019s innermost secrets are revealed almost like a flower that opens its petals at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo District News<\/a><\/em>: <\/a>\u2026.\u201d Betsy Karel\u2019s Bombay Jadoo<\/em>—a triumphant return and a happy ending.\u201d 11\/07<\/p>\n

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Video courtesy: CNN IBN<\/p>\n

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\u201cBetsy Karel\u2019s choice to shoot present-day Mumbai in black and white in her book Bombay Jadoo<\/em> at first seems perverse. India\u2019s premier photojournalist Raghubir Singh once wrote that \u201cthe eyes of India only see in color\u201d, and one wonders if, as an American photojournalist, Karel just doesn\u2019t get it. But by the third or fourth image, the aesthetic makes sense. Karel was inspired by Indian novels and movies to search for echoes of the jadoo (magic) of old Bombay. Her images of Mumbai residents \u2013 from gossiping old men to cricket-playing boys, cooks and street performers \u2013 are hauntingly beautiful, and their lack of color makes them startlingly direct. By going against the grain, Karel does capture some of the elusive jadoo of a city whose present reality retains a lot of echoes of its past self.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 PLANET\u00b0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Betsy Karel] sees otherworldliness in the unlikeliest of places – even a train journey. The result is that, for the reader, the photographs too are laced with magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 The First Post<\/a>, online magazine, UK<\/p>\n

\u201cIts intense substance spiked with some dark humour is quite captivating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Hindu, New Delhi<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gaze of the photographer is clearly not on snapping clich\u00e9d, picture postcard images but to focus on the city\u2019s people, and their cluttered and chaotic life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Deccan Herald, Bangalore<\/p>\n

\u201cThe temptation will be to say \u201cthat\u2019s Hanging Garden\u201d or \u201ccould that be Chor Bazaar\u201d, but don\u2019t fall into the trap of immediately trying to identify the physical setting. Instead, absorb the element of fantasy created, ironically, by unadorned realism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Business Standard, Mumbai<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom rikshawallas to girls on local trains, from Juhu beach to the Taj Mahal Hotel, she discovers the \u2019swirling, urban fairy tale\u2019 that is Mumbai.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Trendylicious, e-newsletter<\/p>\n

\u201cA stunning collection of black and white images.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mumbai Mirror<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in the mundane that Karel\u2019s empathy and tenderness shine though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Time Out Mumbai<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book itself resonates with the soul of the city\u2019s humanity captured in an intensely personal manner in black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Business Standard, Mumbai<\/p>\n

\u201cBombay Jadoo<\/em> is a deceptively simple photo book that engages the reader from the very first page… Karel\u2019s preference for immediacy rather than distance in her photographs captures a time, mood and the energy of a place as much as that of the person being photographed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Outlook Traveler<\/p>\n

Translated from German<\/h2>\n

American photographer Betsy Karel unravels an urban fairytale in her photobook Bombay Jadoo<\/em>. Whenever in Mumbai over the past years, she forced herself to seek out stories of humanity and humour in the throng of buses, bicycles, people, dogs and cats. In the present she grasps hold of motifs from the past, as if the 1950s had not yet passed. (\u2026) With her enchanting crystal-clear black-and-white pictures, Karel has brought the Hindi word \u201cjadoo\u201d (magic) back to life.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Die Zeit<\/p>\n

Wandering through Bombay on an ordinary working day sometimes feels as if one had finally discovered the site of successful big city symphony. (\u2026) Over eight long years American photographer Betsy Karel travelled regularly to Bombay, riding on overcrowded trains to the city centre, visiting fishermen in the early morning, spending all evening at the beach carnivals and photographing people in their ordinary every-day lives (\u2026) Her pictures exude calmness without appearing idyllic: these are unique scenes, often mysterious, sometimes comical.<\/p>\n

\u2014 S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung<\/p>\n

Translated from Hindi<\/h2>\n

Karel is endlessly fascinated by the way that Indian novelists produce laughter in their writings from aspects and situations of humanity\u2026entering into alleys, roads, public and private places\u2026she has captured with her camera various facets of the life of Mumbaikars\u2026Betsy makes viewers of the photo exhibition come face to face with Mumbai\u2019s life. In her exhibition, she shows Mumbai\u2019s vulnerability, magic, melody and most importantly, the smiles of Mumbaikars. Perhaps this was Betsy\u2019s impetus that drew her to Mumbai.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nav Bharat Times, Mumbai<\/p>\n

Only in silence, expression becomes prominent. This statement is proved by American photographer and photojournalist Betsy Karel\u2019s book Bombay Jadoo<\/em>\u2026.This book is the result of a scrutinizing gaze to capture the pulse of urban life\u2026This book takes life\u2019s everyday struggles and makes representations out of real life in the street, neighborhood and corner.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Hari Bhoomi, New Delhi<\/p>\n

Commentary<\/h2>\n

Karel\u2019s work takes us into the everyday jadoo of Bombay life \u2026 she is a true chronicler of the extraordinariness of the ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mira Nair, Director of Monsoon Wedding<\/em> and The Namesake<\/em><\/p>\n

A friend of mine who lives in Mumbai recently came home on vacation and praised New York City\u2019s quiet streets and fresh air. I\u2019ve never been to Mumbai. I can only imagine the flood of relentless stimuli. It takes a special gift to find order in all of this. With Bombay Jadoo<\/em>, Betsy Karel not only sees the order, she sees the grace.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Alex Soth, Photographer<\/p>\n

On the wall above my desk is a Betsy Karel photograph from Bombay Jadoo<\/em>. It is of a young Indian man exuberantly swinging one-handed from a spinning carnival Ferris wheel.
\nThe improbable joy of the scene reminds me of life itself and of why we photograph. So do many of Betsy’s intimate, original images. Because her work so affirms both life and photography, Bombay Jadoo<\/em> has made a place for itself on my slender shelf of timeless books.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Abell, Photographer<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Desiclub.com<\/a>, A book that captures the very essence of Bombay\u2026.Betsy has done a profound job in showcasing Bombay\u2019s charm to the rest of the world through her lens. 11\/21\/07 The Indian Express, North American edition 11\/09\/07 \u201cMore than anything else, Bombay Jadoo is testimony to the rich imagination of a high caliber artist: the cavernous […]<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35,"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bombayjadoo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}