One Billion Indians

It is obviously provocative and somewhat pretentious to call a book of photographs "One Billion Indians". No one can claim to cover the full diversity of a country this size. Many things are missing: entire provinces, different religions or ethnic groups, social representations. But there are reasons to entitle it so. The first one is that "One Billion Indians" is the most important factor in understanding the country. It is what determines its physical aspect, its architecture, its logistics, its public transportation, and therefore shapes the impression one has when observing it. It lies at the core of politics and religious beliefs, and it is magnified by the rapid urban growth of the country. The second reason is linked to Pellizzari's peculiar photographic style. The title relates to his panoramic eye, to the idea of showing one billion details, one billion attitudes, one billion feelings - harmony within complexity. This book is essentially a compilation of scenes of ordinary life, taking place in streets and public locations around India: from a barber shop to a market scene, from a bookstore to a road bustling with people.
It is not the best or the worst of what there is to see, it lies somewhere in between; it is not meant as a travelogue or a personal story. This book records hundreds of details of today's India captured in many different regions over a period of four years, starting in 1999. The panoramic format of the photographs gives each picture the grand feeling of an operatic stage. Every person, every detail is there to bewilder the viewer with confusing but strong feelings, similar to those experienced while taking the pictures. The famous French novelist Michel Tournier has said succinctly, "Reality surpasses infinitely the resources of my imagination and it does not cease to astonish me and to fill me with admiration." Pellizzari's India is not an idealised, romantic view of the Indian subcontinent, nor does it concentrate on its monuments or beauty. He photographs everyday India, what you see in the streets, in the shops, in the squares of one of the largest countries of the world (and second for population).