abhishek-khedekar-s-tamasha

Abhishek Khedekar’s Tamasha: Migratory Lives and Marathi Folk Theatre 

Sucheta Chakraborty Oct 03, 2026

Sucheta Chakraborty examines Abhishek Khedekar’s photographs of Maharashtra’s travelling Tamasha troupes, tracing the caste, labour and migratory conditions that shape this tradition of folk theatre. Looking beyond the performance itself, she attends to the objects, bodies and material processes that sustain the form, while considering how Khedekar’s layered images register the histories and contemporary realities of Tamasha.

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murga-ladai
albums

Murga Ladai: Cockfighting in Bastar Bazaars

Sakhi Subramaniam Chowla Oct 01, 2026

In this album, Sakhi Subramaniam Chowla photographs Murga Ladai, the cockfighting tradition held alongside the weekly haat in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. Looking at the sport as a social and cultural gathering, she considers the relationships between pride, competition and community, attending to the tensions between this Adivasi tradition and contemporary debates around animal cruelty.
the-weight-of-the-river
events

The Weight of the River: Jafar Muhammad’s Pankauri

Adil Manzoor Sep 29, 2026

Adil Manzoor examines Jafar Muhammad’s Pankauri (2025), a film that follows a pebble-collecting community living along the parched Karatoa River in northern Bangladesh. Through the life and labour of its protagonist, Mujibur Rahman, he looks at how ecological degradation and economic precarity become intertwined, asking what keeps a community tied to an increasingly unforgiving landscape.
beyond-the-factory
stories

Beyond the Factory: Industrial Imagery and the Noida Workers’ Strike

Tanya M Sep 26, 2026

In the second part of her essay, Tanya M places images of Noida’s industrial landscape alongside photographs of the April 2026 workers’ strike, examining how labour is made visible across different visual regimes. Drawing on Allan Sekula’s ideas of “instrumental realism” and the “shock of montage,” she considers what these contradictory images of order and disruption reveal about the structural conditions shaping workers’ lives.

strike-turns-violent
stories

“Strike Turns Violent”: Workers’ Protests in Noida

Tanya M Sep 25, 2026

In the first of a two-part essay, Tanya M examines the images through which the April 2026 workers’ strike in Noida were framed as having “turned violent." Drawing on Allan Sekula’s writing on photography, labour and capital, she situates these images within the city’s wider visual regime of development, asking what forms of structural violence remain outside the frame.
labour-loopholes
events

Labour Loopholes: Debarun Dutta on South Asian (over)presence in Germany’s Gig Economy

Upasana Das Sep 23, 2026

In the second part of this edited conversation, Upasana Das speaks with filmmaker and policy researcher Debarun Dutta about the possibilities of organising within Germany’s gig economy, looking at the role of unions, legal action and policy reform in challenging subcontractors and algorithmic exploitation faced by South Asian migrant workers.

WATCHLIST

The Wellcome Photography Prize 2027 invites photographers and image-makers worldwide to submit work exploring health and science, including mental health, infectious diseases, climate and health, and scientific discovery. The competition includes categories for a striking single photograph, a 3–5 image storytelling series and scientific or medical imaging. Category winners receive £10,000, with further 22 entries receiving £1,000 each. Apply by 21 October 2026.

WATCHLIST

The Delton Cables Inception Grant for Photography supports one emerging South Asian photographer with a year of structured support, including a ₹2 lakh cash grant, statement development, career support and a solo exhibition at Art Incept, India. Applicants must be aged 21–40, based in or connected to South Asia, and developing a sustained photographic practice without formal commercial gallery representation. Apply by 15 November 2026

WATCHLIST

The Humsafar Trust invites trans and gender-diverse writers, researchers, students, activists and community members based in India to submit original articles on transgender and gender-diverse communities, including their rights, culture, health, history, arts and lived experiences. Both narrative and research-based submissions are welcome, with selected authors receiving an honorarium of ₹3,000 per published article. Applications on a rolling basis.

WATCHLIST

The Vital Impacts Environmental Photography Fellowships and Mentorships invite applications from photographers and visual storytellers documenting environmental and conservation issues within their own communities. The 2027 programme offers one $20,000 fellowship, six $5,000 fellowships and mentorship opportunities for ten emerging photographers, with fellows receiving support to develop and share their projects over 12 months. Apply by 30 November 2026.
on-exploitation-in-the-delivery-guy
events

On Exploitation in The Delivery Guy: In Conversation with Debarun Dutta

Upasana Das Sep 22, 2026

In the first part of this edited conversation, Upasana Das speaks with filmmaker and policy researcher Debarun Dutta about his short documentary, The Delivery Guy (2025), tracing the precarious lives of South Asian students and migrant workers caught between education, migration and gig labour in Germany.
the-postal-portfolios
stories

The Postal Portfolios: A Little History of Photography in Early Twentieth-Century India

Sreerupa Bhattacharya Sep 19, 2026

Tracing the postal photography circles of 1940s India, Sreerupa Bhattacharya explores how circulating portfolios created new forms of exchange, critique and pedagogy among amateur photographers. Through the work of Debalina Mazumder and Manobina Roy, she considers how these networks helped shape the technical vocabulary through which photography was judged, debated and interpreted.
parallel-visions
stories

Parallel Visions: Omar Ahmed on the Politics of Film Curation

Ankan Kazi Sep 17, 2026

In the second part of this conversation, Ankan Kazi speaks with film curator and scholar Omar Ahmed about the connections of Indian Parallel Cinema with Third Cinema and African decolonising cinema. Ahmed reflects on the political possibilities of looking beyond established canons and discusses the challenges of curating and programming Indian independent cinema abroad—from rights and access to the persistent expectations that shape how Indian cinema is encountered by Western audiences.
indian-parallel-cinema-and-the-global-south
stories

Indian Parallel Cinema and the Global South: In Conversation with Omar Ahmed

Ankan Kazi Sep 16, 2026

In the first part of this conversation, Ankan Kazi speaks with film curator and scholar Omar Ahmed about his book, The Revolution of Indian Parallel Cinema in the Global South (1968–1995): From Feminism to Iconoclasm (2025), tracing its political and aesthetic formations across changing structures of production.

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on-bimal-roy
stories

On Bimal Roy: In Conversation with Aparajita Roy Sinha, Joy Bimal Roy and Rinki Roy Bhattacharya

Shamya Dasgupta Sep 11, 2026

In this edited conversation, Shamya Dasgupta speaks with Bimal Roy’s children Aparajita Roy Sinha, Joy Bimal Roy and Rinki Roy Bhattacharya about the filmmaker’s life, work and enduring legacy. Through memories of his films and the creative communities around them, they consider Roy’s approach to filmmaking and the relationships that shaped his practice.
multisensorial-ephemera
albums

Multisensorial Ephemera: Bombay Cinema’s Song Booklets 

Vansh Sharma Sep 09, 2026

Vansh Sharma considers the song booklet as a multisensory archive of Bombay cinema, tracing how film ephemera extended the cinematic experience beyond the theatre. Drawing on the Rahaab Allana Collection, this album looks at the material, visual and multilingual aspects of the booklets as well as their role in preserving fragments of films that may no longer survive.
archives-of-excess
events

Archives of Excess: Cinephilia and Hindi Film Posters

Dev Saraswat Sep 05, 2026

In his review of the exhibition Duniya Parchhaiyon Ki: Elusive Frames, Resonant Echoes, Dev Saraswat considers how Hindi film posters, song booklets and other ephemera reshape how cinema is archived and remembered. Moving through the exhibition’s unofficial visual cultures, he outlines an “archive of memory traces”sustained through copying, recycling and cinema’s persistent afterlife.
the-time-it-takes-to-be-seen
stories

The Time It Takes to Be Seen: Pushpa Rawat’s Mod

Tanay Shrotriy Sep 03, 2026

Tanay Shrotriy writes on Pushpa Rawat’s Mod (The Turn, 2016), tracing how the filmmaker’s recurring encounters with a group of young men in Ghaziabad unearth familiar narratives of delinquency, exposing the caste and class-bound conditions shaping their aspirations, expectations of masculinity and precarious futures.
pushpa-rawat-s-nirnay
stories

Pushpa Rawat’s Nirnay: An Anti-Tragedy

Tanay Shrotriy Sep 02, 2026

In Nirnay (Decision, 2012), Pushpa Rawat turns the camera towards her own life and those of the women around her, transforming the documentary into a way of confronting the constraints of caste and patriarchal authority. Tanay Shrotriy considers how the film unsettles the conventions of tragedy, allowing anguish, wound and thwarted desire to remain present within the image.
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