Archive illustration: a yellow Ambassador taxi in Kolkata, from a photograph published in February 2024. This is not a work from the No Refusal exhibition. Photo: Raju Alam / WordPress Photo Directory. CC0 1.0 Universal.
Kolkata’s yellow Ambassador taxis are the focus of No Refusal, a photography exhibition by Ananth Padmanabhan at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, in New Delhi. The public exhibition is scheduled for November 4–10, following a November 3 preview.
The photographs bring together street scenes, working taxis and ageing vehicles, using a familiar part of Kolkata’s transport landscape to explore how a city changes. India Art Fair’s programme listing describes a body of work built over nearly three decades, with memory and belonging among its central themes.
In an interview published on November 4, Padmanabhan told The New Indian Express about photographing the vehicles in daily use and in garages where older cars are taken for scrapping. The exhibition connects the cars’ distinctive appearance with the people and places around them, rather than presenting them only as isolated objects.
The venue is on Lodhi Road. Visitors should check current gallery arrangements before travelling; the announced exhibition closes on November 10.
