ROBYN BEECHE'S VANISHING INDIA

FASHION FLASH

Robyn Beeche (b.1945) in Sydney, Australia spent 5 years working for two professional fashion photographers, one in Sydney and one in London. She was an important photographer of the fashion world, working extensively with designers such as Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Bill Gibb and Mary Quant. She also photographed leading figures in London during this time – including Divine, Adel Rootstein, Sir Roy Strong and Bill Gibb. Her images are often inspired by artists as diverse as Arcimboldo, Vasarely, Picasso and Dali and feature elaborate and surreal make-up effects. The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra has a collection of 50 of her uncommissioned photographs which explore a decade of change in London in the 1980’s being expressed by various artists and which have become historic. From 1989 to 1992 she was a part time tutor in photography at St. Martins College of Art and London College of Fashion,London.
The interesting and most important aspect to consider when viewing her photographs is to realise that there has been no retouching or digitilisation of the photographs. They were created in camera before Adobe Photoshop existed. The make-up, body painting and hair styling would have taken many hours to apply.

Since 1985, she visited the region of Vraj in northern India on many occasions, documenting the festivals and culture of an area known as Vraj. She moved to Vrindavan permanently in 1992. She has been involved with various creative projects linked with India. In 1989, she directed the film ‘Holi – a Festival of Colour’ and in 1995 held her first photographic exhibition on the culture of Vraja at the Piramal Gallery, NCPA, Mumbai. This was followed in 1996 by ‘Vraja – Krishna’s Playground’ at the Mati Ghar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.

She has contributed photographs to two of IGNCA’s publications; Govindadeva – a Dialogue in Stone (1996) and Evening Blossoms (1996). She has also fully illustrated the book, Arts & Crafts of India, published by Conran Octopus, London (1992). Her latest volume, Celebrating Krishna authored by Shrivatsa Goswami has been published by Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana (2001).