Professor Wins State Award in Photography

This picture of two fishermen won Meshram an award at the 52nd Maharashtra State Art competition. Photograph/Vinod Meshram

“The mythical concept of a Chakravuh is mirrored in this reality of the fish not being able to escape the trap.”—Vinod Meshram

Vinod Meshram, a Mumbai-based professor of photography at Sophia Polytechnic, received the State award at the 52nd Maharashtra State Art competition that was organised by the Directorate of Art, Government of Maharashtra. Every year, the Government of Maharashtra organises a competition and subsequent exhibition for artists from the field of sculpture, painting, printmaking and photography.
Vinod secured the first prize amongst the 40 entries in the professional photography category. In addition, he also received a cash prize of Rs 10,000 from the government. Vinod has been teaching photography for the past nine years and simultaneously developing his photographic practice. His award-winning image was captured in January 2011 in a small town of Brahmapuri, which is around 100km from Nagpur. The image is titled Chakravuh, which is a term inspired from Hindu mythology.
According to him, the fishnet in the photo is visually symbolic of a trap. “It looked like a huge circle from where I stood. There seemed no other way for the fish to escape the trap,” he recalls. Vinod recently completed his PhD on photography from the University of Nagpur and prefers to balance academics and shooting.

— Written by Priyanka Chharia