We’re excited to welcome you to Disobedient Subjects: Bombay 1930–31, opening on October 30, 2025. See details below. Also, check out our current and past exhibitions!
Coming Soon:
Disobedient Subjects: Bombay 1930–31 | October 30, 2025 – January 19, 2026
Featuring rare historical photographs and archival materials, Disobedient Subjects: Bombay 1930–31, is an exhibition presented by Duke Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) and The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, and curated by Duke History Department faculty Avrati Bhatnagar and Sumathi Ramaswamy.
Take a journey around Bombay — today’s Mumbai — to witness the unfolding of the Civil Disobedience Movement against British colonial rule nearly a century ago. The movement began with the Salt Satyagraha in April 1930, when Mohandas K. Gandhi defied British law by collecting salt from the seashore — a radical act that challenged the colonial monopoly on a vital resource and sparked mass protests across India. In Bombay, thousands of citizens, including women and children, joined in parades, pickets and acts of defiance, transforming the city into a powerful symbol of resistance.
Highlighting the role of women, ordinary citizens and anticolonial activism in shaping a democratic future, the show features carefully preserved photographs from the K.L. Nursey album in the Alkazi Collection of Photography, New Delhi, on display for the first time in the United States.
The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a scholarly volume titled Photographing Civil Disobedience: Bombay 1930–1931, edited by Bhatnagar and Ramswamy and published by the Alkazi Collection of Photography in association with Mapin Publishing (2025). Available for pre-order here.
Visit the exhibition website to learn more and see the full list of sponsors and partners: https://sites.google.com/view/disobedientsubjectsexhibit.
Duke Center for Documentary Studies
1317 W. Pettigrew St.
Durham, NC 27705
Opening
Join us at CDS for the opening of Disobedient Subjects: Bombay 1930–31 on Thursday, October 30, 2025, from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Speakers at the opening:
- Avrati Bhatnagar, Instructor of History and International Comparative Studies, Duke University
- Sumathi Ramaswamy, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of History, Duke University
- Special Guest Rahaab Allana, Curator, The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi
All are welcome to explore the exhibition, hear insights from the curators and special guest and enjoy delicious Bombay style street food from Lime & Lemon Indian Grill & Bar in Durham.
Exhibition Sponsors and Partners
The Alkazi Collection of Photography, New Delhi
The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi
The Arts and Sciences Council Committee on Faculty Research, Duke University
Department of History, Duke University
Duke Center for Documentary Studies
John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University
The Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Duke University
We are equally grateful to the Asia Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of African and African American Studies, the Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies, the Office of the Executive Provost, and the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University for supporting this project.
