One of Kolkata's most well-known streets, Chitpore would never have entered the imagination of those living outside the city if it weren't for Saibal Das. For Das, Chitpore is "more than a mere urban space - it is like a labyrinthine courtyard where past overlaps with the present and tradition jostles with modernity. Here migrant workers in the bastis and prostitutes rub shoulders with the decaying aristocracy and the rich Marwari trader." This show captures these contradictions and co-existences in black and white, resulting in a stark yet impactful (in parts) showcase.

Das has shot all the images in the show using a traditional-film panoramic camera as against the standard digital SLR. Although taken between 2007 and 2009, his images present a reminiscent by-gone era: in part because of the black and white presentation but also because this is Kolkata we are witnessing, a city that time seems to have forgotten. His compositions capture the elements from the steet including buildings - abandoned as well as inhabited but dilapidated and people - at work, prayer, at mealtimes and resting. The common strain that one notes is the shared human condition of hope and despair; of well-being and destitution, of birth and death, with Chitpore playing a representative of these universal conditions. Overall, only a few works in this show truly display the artist's connect with his subject.