exhibited works:

8 untitled works, 2022 

from the series “Sisnu”

“Making and being with my photographs gives me a chance to understand myself as a social being – not to make statements but to revise, to go back and forth. Making beautiful photographs is easy, but it takes time and interrogation to understand their purpose. It’s safe to say that this purpose evolves every time I point my camera. My current inquiry revolves around the question: ‘What shifts in me when my address shifts?’

Sisnu [Nettle] is a series of self-portraits which came as a reflection on how what we wear influences how we are seen. At the age of twenty, I traced my ancestral roots and planned a pilgrimage, only to be othered. Of the many reasons, one was that I wear a nose ring. In our tribal community, we have a ritualistic practice called ‘Maruni’ where the masculine invites the feminine. Men adopt ‘feminine’ garments and dance. Irrespective of rituals engrained in communal practices of the past, we are always shaped by who is making the brighter future, in this case, the West. Before English infiltrated our villages, where were the queers? There was just us, our language, our rituals. I was made queer after the West entered our homes.”

Gen Z, one generation, countless perspectives: the exhibition presents works by over 40 photographers from 25 countries born between the 1990s and 2010. Their works reflect experiences shaped by digital worlds, social change and global crises. Across four thematic sections, the exhibition offers insights into the realities, concerns and aspirations of young people. Themes such as identity, belonging, the body and gender are explored creatively, questioned and reimagined through new forms of self-understanding.