donde

Photographer Film and Animation

WATER IS BLISS
An exhibition of art photographs and experimental art film
India Habitat Center, Visual Arts Gallery and Experimental Arts Gallery, New Delhi, India
2nd to 10th June 2010 in celebration of the World Environment Day

Art photography exhibition, “Water is Bliss”, was inspired by my art guru Late Meshomoshai Bonbihari Ghosh and hymns from the Rig Veda.
The photographs capture the clouds and snow of high altitude Himalayas and flow down to the streams, rivers, lakes and the sea.
Peace, tranquility, music, the play of light and the magical reflections of crystal clear natural pure water inspire the viewer to feel the eternal joy of nature. The images reach the heart of spiritual bliss through color, form and composition.
The art aspires to offer images of bliss.

Experimental art film, “Shadow of Time”, shows the passage of time, from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn, through the reflections of water on the surface of a pond.
The film puts the audience into a tranquil state of mind, relaxing and enjoying the eternally changing beauty of nature.


Nitin Donde has been taking photographs since his school days in 1976.

Interested in the visual arts, he left his management job in Indian Express and decided to live off his cameras since 1985. He has been the cameraman and director of more than 20 documentary films, some of which have featured in Mumbai International Film Festivals and the Unesco Festival of Documentary films.

In 1990, Nitin decided to work with children, exploring their creativity through the visual arts and experimenting with animation films. Films made by him and his students through the Animation Filmmaking Workshops that he conducts have featured in a Collection of Animation Films Made by Children of the World. Over the years, five such films have premiered at the Hiroshima International Animation Film Festival, Japan and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France.

Nitin spearheads a series of animation films he calls, “Traditional Tribal Arts in Animation”. He has been working with traditional tribal Indian artists and developing their art and folklore into animation films for children. These films have featured in the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival in Hollywood, Washington, Santa Fe and California. They have been screened in several film festivals and forums on ethnic Indian art.

Guided by the advice of renouned artist Late Meshomoshai Bon Bihari Ghosh, Nitin has been using his photographic art to study nature and the world around him. For 2 years he studied water, photographing it from the glaciers of the Himalayas and following the mountain stream to the river and the river to the sea; ending the study in the deserts of Rajasthan.

“Tej” or “Inner Glow” has also been an important subject in Nitin's photographic studies.

“Swambhu” or “Self Appearing” images, there for a fraction of a second, glimpses of divinity in nature, can be seen in Nitin's work.

Nitin Photographs have featured in several exhibitions. Recently he was invited to screen his tribal art animation films and photographs of traditional tribal Indian artists and art works at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France.

Presently Nitin teaches Animation Filmmaking to students at the Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Delhi and to more than 500 children across India.

In June 2009 he was invited to conduct a Children's animation filmmaking workshop organized by the YMCA at the Grant Middle School, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. His animation film scripts, “The Whirling Dervish” have been purchased by the One Skin Suit Inc. USA.

Special Mention:

Invited to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France in June, 2008 to:

1. Exhibit a collection of traditional tribal Indian paintings and photographs at Gallery Alter Mundi
2. Special screening of my tribal Indian art animation film, “Pot of Gold”
3. Workshop on “Traditional tribal Indian art in animation” at the Atelier de cinema d'animation d'annecy et de haute savoie.
4. Four of my animation filmmaking school children were invited to be the jury for the Annecy Young Jury Award for the best student film.
5. Certified by the Hiroshima International Film Festival as an Animation Film Instructor.