Seamus Murphy exhibition opens at Museo Camera, Gurugram

Seamus Murphy’s photograph of a garbage collector’s bicycle with an oversized flower on its handlebar is among 30 Kolkata images on show at Museo Camera, Gurugram, from Saturday.

The exhibition, *Life Is In Many Days*, brings together 107 works by the 66-year-old photographer, whose career includes seven World Press Photography awards. Alongside the Kolkata series, it includes photographs from Afghanistan, Ireland, Russia and North America.

Murphy began photographing Kolkata after a family holiday in 2017 and now spends a few months in the city each year. His images focus on street-level scenes: a boy suspended while trying to kick a football, a crow passing between buildings, and an arm reaching out from beneath a broken-down bus. He has described the work as “Kolkata noir”, shaped by the city’s buildings, streetlights and shadows.

“I wasn’t looking for anything that would make a huge impact,” Murphy said of making work outside conventional news photography.

Curator Zelda Cheatle has assembled the Gurugram exhibition, which places Murphy’s Kolkata photographs alongside projects made over three decades.