Following an accomplished career in television and radio journalism in India, I moved to the UK in 2009, to complete my Masters in International Relations from King’s College London.
I am not formally trained in the language of photography. However, for as long as I remember, Art has been my anchor.
As a South Asian woman and a survivor of child sexual abuse and domestic violence,"otherness" has been at the core of my lived experiences and through that, my photographic practice. Whether it be through race, gender, various presentations of power, or different social systems, I have tried to present a study of the multidimensional model of the “other,” “trivialised”… “subaltern" narratives.
I combine traditional artistic interventions and photography to call attention to the boundary of cultural imperialism, a boundary marked by the casual, ever-present act of unseeing and unarchiving the “other.”
My series “Changing the conversation” was the first departure from my fantastical childhood portraits work. That series continues to interrogate the binaries that form our understanding of “beauty.”
“ A thousand cuts” studies the patterns of domestic abuse in the South Asian culture through personal narratives of survivors, who along with their stories of abuse receive the dignity of taking centre stage in this project.
With the help of a mentorship programme - Trace Mentorship, I have been able to gain and expanded understanding of image making and hence have adopted an interdisciplinary approach in my recent works. I am currently working on a collaborative series on childhood trauma as part of my residency at WeRestart UK.
My works have received several international awards including winner of British Journal of Photography - Female in Focus 2022; Photographer of the Year - Tokyo International Foto Awards 21’, Gold Winner - Open Awards at Association of Photographers 21’, Portrait Award Winner - The Independent Photographer 21’ , Portrait Award Winner - Indian Photo Fest 21’, Winner - Edition 365 BJP.
Exhibitions include the Headon Photo Fest in Australia, an OOH exhibit across UK and the most recent exhibit in India of the series focusing on the Rohingyas, as part of the largest refugee conference supported by Action Aid India and The Azadi Project. Some of my works have also been showcased in galleries across UK, Belgium, Japan, Iran, Italy and India.
Awards:
“Shortlist - IPE 164” - The Royal Photographic Society 2022
Exhibitions:
Group Exhibition - Shibuya Cultural Center Owada, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition - Auckland Festival of Photography 2022, New Zealand
Group Exhibition - House of Lucie, Kashan, Iran
Group Exhibition - House of Lucie, Budapest, Hungary
Group Exhibition - Fujifilm House of Photography, London, UK
Group Exhibition - Indian Photo Festival 2021, Hyderabad, India
Virtual Group Exhibition and NFT sale - Edition 365 in collaboration with newart.city
Group Exhibition - Indian Photo Festival 2021, Hyderabad, India
Virtual Group Exhibition and NFT sale - Edition 365 in collaboration with newart.city