I’m a documentary photographer and interdisciplinary artist based between New York City and Mumbai. My journalistic work focuses on stories about women’s rights, labour, state violence and environmental issues. After working as a staff photojournalist at Gulf News based in the UAE in 2008, I worked independently in India and across Asia until 2019 before moving to New York City. I speak Hindi, Marathi, Konkani and a little French. I was an International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) grantee and my work has been exhibited at Tisseurs d’Images Festival in France, Chennai Photo Biennale and Serendipity Arts Festival in India and at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai. Besides photography, my work also spans across lens-based media, sculpture and installation. I have taught photography at Columbia University, International Center of Photography, Josephine Herrick Project and media theory at New York University.
PUBLICATIONS & CLIENTS
The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, The Guardian, Monocle, Roads & Kingdoms, Bloomberg News, Al Jazeera, BBC, GOOD Magazine, NewsDeeply, Courrier International, National Geographic Traveller India, Quanta Magazine, The Caravan, Glamour USA, Bright Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, Facebook, The Sunday Guardian, Voyeur Magazine, Roli Books, Airbnb, Apple, Google, etc.
SELECT PHOTO COMMISSIONS
“A Superintendent Becomes a Lifetime for Senior Tenants,” The New York Times, 2023
“He Followed in the Family Footsteps. And He Found a Home,” The New York Times, 2023
“Rachel Reeves embraces ‘Bidenomics’ as blueprint for a Labour government,” Financial Times, 2023
“The new ‘blood diamonds’: the elaborate plan to halt Russia’s trade,” Financial Times, 2023
“What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer,” Quanta Magazine, 2022
“Army of Women Earning $4 a Day Could Be Behind Your Next Phone: The world’s largest contract manufacturer, Foxconn, is seeking to reduce its reliance on China as Trump’s trade war drags on,” Bloomberg News, 2019
“En Inde, les conséquences dévastatrices du tabou sur les règles,” Le Monde, 2019
“A Diamond Scandal Is Hurting India’s Economy in Grip of Slowdown,” Bloomberg News, 2019
“How the #MeToo Cases That Shook India Have Played Out: Accusers have faced setbacks. Still, they have changed the system in India – for everyone,” Bloomberg News, 2019
“Moonshot Ends in Failure for India and Its Water-Hunting Rover,” Bloomberg News, 2019
“The World’s Finest Saffron Is in Danger of Disappearing: Drought and climate change are threatening the livelihood and traditions of Kashmir’s saffron-farming families,” Saveur, 2019
“Billionaire’s Folly Becomes Banker’s Nightmare: What happens when a privately built and managed city goes bust? We may soon find out,” Bloomberg News, 2018
“The Toy Maker Who Weaves Trash Into Educational Gold: Arvind Gupta, an engineer and toy maker in India, teaches science using discarded matchsticks and soccer balls,” BRIGHT Magazine, 2017
“The Classrooms Hidden in Mumbai’s Seams: Educators are bringing the classroom to thousands of Mumbai’s children out of school-in school buses, treehouses and beyond,” BRIGHT Magazine, 2015
“Special delivery: meet Mumbai’s ‘errand executives,” The Guardian, 2015
“India’s Booming Standup Comedy Scene Tests Boundaries With Cutting-Edge Jokes,” The Washington Post, 2014
“A Regional Film Industry Looks Beyond Its Borders,” The Caravan, 2014
“Sumaira Abdulali fights to lower noise levels in Mumbai, India’s capital of noise,” The Washington Post, 2013
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
“A Crammed Commute Where Men Aren’t Allowed,” BBC, 2018
“Meet the Man Who May Be India’s Last Taxidermist: The self-taught craftsman preserves wild animals from all over the country for future generations to enjoy-but worries his art will die with him,” National Geographic, 2018
“India’s First Transgender Athletics,” AJ+, 2017
“Rooftop Farmers: Greening Empty Spaces of Mumbai,” AJ+, 2015
PUBLICATIONS AS AUTHOR
“The Female Bodybuilders of India: Bodybuilding is one of the most extreme avatars of gym culture. Despite taboos and financial constraints, female bodybuilders in India continue to compete,” The Juggernaut, 2019
“En Inde, la mixite passe (parfois) par le sport,” Courrier International, 2019
“Disc World: Chennai’s Ultimate Frisbee players navigate one of India’s only mixed-gender sports,” The Caravan, 2018
“In Her Element: The life of a poet and poison healer in Kerala,” The Caravan, 2018
“Wrestling Against Prejudice and Poverty In India,”NewsDeeply, 2017
“A League Of Their Own: The girls of this small Indian town have started a soccer revolution,” Roads & Kingdoms, 2017
“Let the daughters run: How Haryana’s girls are writing their own script,” Fountain Ink, 2017
“What A Six-Week Road Trip Through Ladakh Looks Like,” Verve Magazine, 2017
“Indian acid attack victims share their stories: Five women describe how their lives were changed in an instant when they were attacked with acid, Al Jazeera, 2016
“On set with India’s child actors: In India’s film and television industry, competition is fierce and expectations high – even for its youngest actors,” Al Jazeera Magazine, 2015
“In Picture: India’s Gun Violence Widows,” BBC, 2014
“In Pictures: Manipur’s ‘custodial killings’ – Irom Sharmila’s release has once again put focus on extra-judicial deaths at hands of army in northeastern Indian state,” Al Jazeera, 2014
“In Pictures: Mumbai’s dying Irani cafes. Iconic street-corner cafes are shuttering down one by one as peoples’ tastes change and more glitzy eateries take over,” Al Jazeera, 2014
“In Pictures: India’s largest Sufi festival – Thousands gather at Ajmer for annual Urs festival commemorating death of Sufi saint,” Al Jazeera, 2014
“The War Cry of Niyamgiri,” The Sunday Telegraph (link unavailable, in print), 2014
“In Assam, villagers struggle to protect their land from the roaring Brahmaputra: The mighty river provides food and livelihoods to millions. It is also eroding their land,” Scroll.in, 2014
“The Battle For Niyamgiri: How one Indian tribe took on an international mining company and won,” Al Jazeera Magazine (link broken, out of publication), 2013
EXHIBITIONS
- Performance Reading, Readings in the Garden, Anonymous Gallery, NYC, 2022
- Art 52nd Street, Gallery MC, New York, 2021
- Four Inches Off The Wall, 25 E Gallery, Parsons School of Design, 2019
- Tisseurs D’Images Festival, Angers, France, 2018
- Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, India, 2017
- Digital presentation titled ‘Anthropocenic Mindscapes’ at Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2017
- Behind the Portrait Group Exhibition, Gulf Photo Plus, Dubai, UAE, 2017
- Chennai Photo Biennale, Chennai, India, 2016
- Pondy Photo Fesival, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India, 2015
- MinD (Made in Dubai) Art Festival, Dubai, UAE, 2010
- Digital Presentation at the Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2009
- Fundraiser group exhibition ‘Art for Gaza’ for Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund at Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE, 2009
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS, WORKSHOPS AND PANELS
- Artist in Residence, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts (MASS MoCA), 2022
- Artist Talk, Indian Photo Festival, 2021
- Finalist, UC Berkeley MFA South Asia Art Prize for North America and Europe, 2020
- Nominee for Prix Pictet Award, 2019
- Selected Participant at National Geographic Out of Eden Walk Slow Journalism Workshop with Paul Salopek in Chennai, India, 2018
- Speaker on Panel about Gender and Pay Gaps in Creative Industries at WeWork in Mumbai, India, 2018
- Selected Participant at Chennai Photo Biennale Workshop in Chennai, India, 2016
- Selected Participant at Journalists Training Workshop for Climate Change by the Himalayan Institute of Climate Adaptation Programme in Assam, India, 2014
- Finalist in IPA (Invisible Photographer Asia) Street Photography Asia Award, 2013
- Selected Participant, Angkor Photography Workshop in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2009