Vicky Roy’s journey from capturing slum dwellers to the construction of the World Trade Center in New York is as beautiful and exciting as his photographs, says Karan Bhardwaj
Home.Street.Home, an exhibition which is being showcased at the Ojas Art gallery, captures the life and spirit of the underprivileged kids from different home shelters. But what sets these photographs (in pictures) apart from the rest of the similar lot is the person himself who clicked them. Vicky Roy was one among such kids, who grew up in a shelter of Salam Balak Trust. Today he happens to be a globally-acclaimed photographer and has shown his works in US, Switzerland, Vietnam, South Africa and other nations. At a time when rural migrants are being accused for urban chaos, story of this 26-year-old offers a fresh perspective. He fled from his impoverished Puruliya home (West Bengal) at an age of 11 and became a ragpicker in the Delhi. A volunteer of Salam Balak Trust took him to the shelter and Roy’s destiny began to shape.
“Since I was weak in academics, my school teacher advised me to go for some vocational training. So I chose photography,” he says. In 2001, SBT had organised a photography workshop for kids, and participants got a chance to visit Sri lanka and Indonesia. Though Roy didn’t take part in this session, he got inspired to pursue photography. The trust hired him a camera and the young boy then started assisting a Delhi photographer in 2005. In 2007, he held his first solo show Street Dreams. “I captured the dreams of street and homeless children in my works,” he says. The show was a big success and even travelled to london.
In 2008, he participated in an international competition by Maybach Foundation and was a lucky one among the four shortlisted candidates to travel to New York. “I represented India there and next year, they took us to New York where we captured the construction of World Trade Center. During the same time, they facilitated a six-month course in International Centre for Photography (ICP). I also staged one exhibition there,” he tells us with pride. Roy has much more to share. In 2009, he was invited in Buckingham Palace for lunch with Prince Edward. He also participated in National Geographic Channel’s photography-based reality show Mission Covershot. “I never imagined I would be able to achieve this much. I just kept facing and accepting things. Now people respect me when I go home. I take lectures, organise shows and interact with young photographers,” he says.
In 2011, Roy and his friend Chandan Gomes also established a photography library near Qutub Minar. “It documents all photography-related books which have been donated by photographers only. We keep organising activities to promote the art of clicking,” he says.