Sunil K. Dutt (born 31 December 1939) is an Indian photographer and photojournalist.
Dutt is known as the photo chronicler of Mother Teresa's life and work for more than thirty years till her death in 1997. He is also known as a chronicler of Calcutta and its many moods for his vignettes of life in Kolkata, India. His photographs have been published in many newspapers, magazines and journals, and he has received many national and international awards. Sunil K. Dutt has been in the field of photography and photojournalism for more than fifty years.
Early life and education
Sunil K. Dutt was born in Kolkata on 31 December 1939. He was greatly inspired by Swami Vivekananda. His words "When you are born a man, leave some indelible mark behind you", always haunted him. After completing his studies from Surendranath College, Kolkata, he started writing articles for various magazines.
Career
Dutt never planned of having a career in the field of photography at first. When he was writing in Dr. Karuna Mukherjee's magazine Gharani''', he was advised to give visual support to his writings to make the subjects more attractive. That was the starting point of his journey with photography. He started to take photographs to make his articles more attractive and later he chose it as his career and started working as a professional photographer for the rest of his life. At the early stage of his career as a photographer, he was appointed to take Mother Teresa's photographs by the editor of Junior Statesman., published from Kolkata, Desmond Doig, the writer of Calcutta: An Artist's Impression, Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work and many more books. This assignment was the turning point of Dutt's career.
By the end of the 1960s, a documentary was made on Mother Teresa, and in the early 1970s, the first ever book on her, Something Beautiful for God was published by Harper Collins (based on the documentary). It was written and undertaken by Malcolm Muggeridge with the photographs of Mother Teresa snapped by Sunil K. Dutt. Dutt's pictorial book titled Kolkata Canvas portrays the life of Kolkata. It has more than 100 photographs on various aspects of city and its reality. Dutt's other pictorial books are Robir Aloy Alokchitro, Durga Puja, Amay Gach Kore Dao, Shantiniketan, Mother Teresa - Down Memory Lane.
Major exhibitions
2018 A Walk in Time - An exhibition of Sunil K. Dutt's iconic black and white photographs of the city of Kolkata and the life of Saint Teresa. This exhibition was organised by Abundant Art Gallery and Maya Art Space in Kolkata. ( Walk in time ) 2016 Ray and the City – Photography (Black and white) by Sunil K. Dutt at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata 2016 Mother Teresa - photography (Black and white) by Sunil Dutt at Savio Hall at Shillong 2015 Rabir Aloye Alokchitra (Photographs in the Light of Tagore's most popular songs and poems) - Gaganendra Pradarshashala, Kolkata 2011 Mother Teresa – Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata 2006 Best of Sunil's photographs - Kolkata International Foundation of Art, Literature and Culture, Kolkata 2001 Heritage sites of West Bengal – Prinsep Ghat, Kolkata 2000 On the State of Tripura – Gaganendra Pradarshashala, Kolkata 2000 Heritage Awareness - Gaganendra Pradarshashala, Kolkata 1995 On 305th year of Calcutta– Oxford Bookstore And Gallery, Kolkata 1995 On Santiniketan – Gaganendra Pradarshashala, Kolkata 1989 Calcutta – National Museum of Photography Film and Television Television, Bradford, London .Tapash Ganguly, "Spectrum:Calcutta, A Click in London", The Week, P.62, 6 August 1989 1987 On Calcutta – Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata. 1981 On Awareness of Spastic Children – Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata 1973 Calcutta Calcutta - Alliance française, French Government Consulate, Kolkata
Various other activities related to photography
Taught as visiting faculty in different institutions and universities. Some of them are University of Calcutta, Visvabharati, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) etc. Worked as an honorary photo-selector for years together for major national newspapers and magazines. 1989 Gave a lecture about the state and status of Indian Photography (1989) at British National Museum of Photography. 1997 Participated ACCU (an affiliated body of UNESCO) at Tokyo – an interactive sessions on Indian photography. Chaired as a judge in ACCU competition for whole of Asia and Australasia.