Subrata Bhowmick

A person whose Wide vistas of accomplishments straddle creative writing, textile art, graphics, advertising, photography, exhibition design and the teaching with a desire to pass on all that he knows. Subrata Bhowmick, who time and again has proved his detractors wrong, circumventing the impossible and converting it into a gamut of art. Through all of this however to me he has been friend, advisor, mentor and above all Bhowmick kaka. Four decades of being actively enmeshed in Ahmedabad’s creative explosion, interacting, working, communicating and arguing with some of the equally enigmatic personalities that have made Ahmedabad, the design hub of India.

Ahmedabad in the 60s with its concentration of multi disciplinary interaction was a young Subrata’s training ground. And since then there has been no looking back. As he says, “there are two kinds of people, those that become attached to a city and give selflessly to increase its magnificence and those who attack the city and leech it and decimate its ability to grow.” Subrata Bhowmick is in love with this city which adopted him and using his multifarious talents, has ensured that Ahmedabad occupies center stage and its importance and its importance as a cultural core flowers. Fascinated by the stark power of black lines and the contrasting white spaces in between has always been Subrata’s domain of exploration verging into the grays of black and white imagery. At one time or the other he has been associated with all the variety of institutions that link Ahmedabad’s creative field together. Beginning as part of the pioneering team at Calico to one of the earliest students at an experimental NID, to now being Creative Director of Mudra Communications, it has been a fruitfully romantic journey for Bhowmick Kaka.

His earliest memories take him back a scion of a traditional Bengali family involved in the jute business in Dhaka, present day Bangladesh. As a child he remembers being carried on the back of a family retainer through the jute plantations. The upheavals of partition caused the family to migrate to Howrah, where his father began a retail textile business. This was his first exposure to textiles. His education at this time was handled by his mother at home until a fateful day when he followed some neighborhood children down the main street and discovered the existence of a school. And ecstatic Subrata ran back home and convinced his parents to enroll him there immediately. Even as a child he loved to sketch and paint which was frowned upon by his father and so with encouragement from his mother he used to hide his work under his bed while creatively exploring the power of the line and color on paper. This fascination drew him to utilize his drawing skills to illustrate the most mundane of subject at school. His school test papers must have made exotic reading as they consisted of drawings, maps, and illustrations more than the written words.

An adventure on the ferry across to Kolkata from Howrah, led him to discover Art College. During this juncture at his life, except for his fathers retail business the rest of the family were all civil and construction engineers. Bridges, dams, roads, buildings and architectural drawings was considered the respectable future to strive for. However young Subrata was adamant, he wanted to join Arts School. Though being a student of science, he not only secured admission but also got a scholarship which with the help of friends and well wishers made him acquire ‘precious’ paints and paper. His natural inclination towards graphics, led him in the direction of applied arts.

The twists and turns of life are unpredictably strange by far, a causal glance at an advert looking for designers at the Calico Mills in Ahmedabad made him apply and land up for the interview. Holding on to his portfolio and waiting his turn he almost lost his confidence as there were far more senior aspirants waiting for the same job. But fate had other things in store as the city of Ahmedabad beckoned and Subrata Bhowmick found himself part of the core design team of Calico Textile Mills. Calico mills under the Sarabhais at that time were creating ripples of revolutionary design innovation in the field of Indian textiles. Tremendous freedom and space was given to the designers to explore their creative ability to the fullest. This was also the time that Ahmedabad as a city was at its creative best. With cutting edge intermingling of talent, ideas, and an amalgamation of activities which made Ahmedabad the most culturally vibrant city anywhere. Ahmedabad, in the 60s and 70s was a fascinating city to be a part of. Modern architecture and design were flowing side by side along with a respect and understanding of traditional arts and craft forms. The classic monochrome photograph of pachedis spread out to dry on the banks of the Sabarmati by Courtier Bresson would be the ideal symbolic image of the symbiotic synthesis between the old and new.

It was Giraben who sent the young designer Subroto Bhowmick to the National Institute of Design…. To be continued…..
Published : Ahmedabad Mirror