Biography
This is a story of courage, passion and conviction winning against all odds of tradition, convention, circumstance and institutional learning. Instead of a typical “Rags-to-Riches” tale, this one is perhaps a twisted inversion of it but with a surprisingly positive outcome.
My father (Pappa) was a very passionate person, full of adventure and totally unafraid to drastically shift age old, well established frames of reference, including his own career and pursuits.
Perfectly situated in a well-established aristocratic family poised to live in ultimate luxury and comfort, he sought something quite different.
He left higher education & family wealth behind but took his deep-rooted traditions and values along, thus quenching his thirst to live a far more creative and passionate life elsewhere. This earned him global fame, winning several awards & became a world class photographer.
My great-grandfather had the best of both worlds, while his business flourished financially, he also adhered to strict religious principles and was bestowed prestigious titles in the Bohra community as well.
He grew up with a proverbial silver spoon. My grandfather, Saleh Bhai was the only male child & my father was the younger of his two sons. Since childhood, he had a flair for arts and loved nature. He persuaded his father to buy a wood carving machine with a foot paddle.
While my grandfather and uncle pursued the business overseas after Master Saheb’s demise (unfortunately with diminishing success as time went by), my father took onto Photography with a fierce passion seeking nature through this expressive medium.
Pappa married my mother in 1941. After my elder brother was born he left Palanpur, home to his seven preceding generations and moved to Karachi.
Initially he worked as a press photographer. Then he ran a chemist shop in partnership with his friend in Karachi’s downtown. Financially it was a definite downgrade, culturally a major shift, but spiritually he was in heaven! He had freedom to pursue photography at will
Master had a dual lifestyle. At the chemist shop he was a shopkeeper out of necessity, after that he was an enthusiastic photographer. Funny thing is that he never had any formal training, either in Photography nor in running a Chemist shop.
He won several Photographic awards starting with exhibitions and publications during his youth in India to his fame in Pakistan as a photographer of international repute (being acknowledged from UK & US).
The final adventure in Pappa’s life was migration to Ottawa in 1972 from Khi. Here he finally had a photography studio in downtown, doing what he liked full time. He started experimenting with colour photography, but his heart & interest remained with the B&W medium
Mazher Master's work has been published in several Indian, Pakistani, British and American magazines & exhibited in galleries in Asia, Europe & America. Recently, his photographs are being scanned & preserved by @ROMtoronto
Born in Palanpur and buried in Ottawa, the late MAZHER MASTER is an example of the new breed of pioneers who have sowed seeds of exotic cultural diversity, artistic enrichment & of a unique temporal and spatial excitement in the fabric of current Canadian lifestyle.
His legacy continues onto seven grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren, all born here in America but with roots based in India via Africa, Middle East and Pakistan.
Mazher Master (1920-1977) was a prolific photographer of the 1940's in India and Pakistan. His work was internationally published, won several awards and received many accolades. Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is archiving his work for preservation. His son, Mustafa Master, an artist, poet, and architect is the owner of the Master Archives.
