artist assist
Launched by Nazar Foundation in 2021, the Artist Assist initiative enables education, research, projects, production of art works, exhibitions and publications by independent lens-based artists.
Artists are invited to send their proposals to info@nazarfoundation.org
TANIYA SARKAR / 2023
When I Dive into the Realm of Your Endlessness, a project to uncover the philosophy, contemplation, and artistic expressions of the Baul-Fakir women of rural Bengal
In Bengal, in the early to mid-18th century, saffron or white-clad mystics from Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim backgrounds formed a major sect known as Baulism. Women practitioners and performers within this patriarchal system seeking their own identities are the subject of Taniya's project, which aims to document their lives, roles, practises, and narratives. The project will also explore the transformative spiritual, psychological, and cultural journeys of women in different times, as the essential foundation of Baul's practice in the post-neoliberal era has been completely transformed.
Taniya Sarkar’s work focuses on historical frameworks and women's perspectives to document contemporary social issues in India. Despite largely being overlooked in rural Bengal, Baul-Fakir women are portrayed in her work, When I Dive into the Realm of Your Endlessness, and Nothing Left to Call Home, which examines communal violence against women as patriarchal violence.
MASOOD SARWER / 2023
for visual investigation of the environmental impact of the Farakka Barrage
Monsoon, takes our homes as if it was a boat, tied in shore
Leaving us to shelter under the fishing nets, tied in hooks
Where winds of winters penetrate, through the naked wounds
And morning dew seeps into thatched grass walls, through the closed voids...
Masood will use the Artist Assist grant to continue his visual investigation of the "slow violence" unleashed by the environmental impact of the Farakka Barrage in his community through personal and subjective narratives. He says. " The Barrage is just 4 km from my doorstep! I fear and shiver. What if someday the Ganges shows at my doorstep? Where will I go?"
Masood Sarwer is is a visual artist and documentary photographer who has been documenting issues revolving around identity, social justice, human rights & climate emergency in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal where he grew up.
RAGHAV PASRICHA / 2022
for multimedia documentation of the annual Wari Yatra
Raghav documented the 21-day, 250-kilometre Wari Yatra between the towns of Alandi and Pandharpur in Maharashtra. The ecstatic journey of faith is undertaken by up to a million men and women, mostly small and marginal farmers, many from lower castes, who sing Abhang (uninterrupted) poetry, dancing to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals. The pilgrimage is an unbroken 700-year-old tradition.
This project through multi-layered photographic, video and audio documentation will be published as a low-cost zine as well as a free to access microsite that links the medieval poetry translated in English to the audio-visual experience of the Wari today.
Raghav Pasricha holds an M.Phil in visual anthropology from Delhi University, bringing his academic training to his photographic practice. He has documented and explored multiple social issues such as the redevelopment of Central Vista, urban development, the unorganized labour sector and the lives of individuals from marginalized groups.
ANURAG BANERJEE / 2021
for his self-published book "I'm Not Here"
“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” James Baldwin
“I’m not here” is the author's exploration of the idea of home. It’s the journey of his transition from adolescence to adulthood. Through the evolving relationship with his parents, their dog, and the landscape of Shillong, “I’m not here” is the author's search for his irrevocable condition.
Anurag Banerjee is an independent photographer from Shillong based out of Bombay. His work "Love in Bombay" explored intimacy in public spaces in the city and was widely published in print, exhibitions and online. His first photobook "I'm not here" was published in January 2022.
“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” James Baldwin
“I’m not here” is the author's exploration of the idea of home. It’s the journey of his transition from adolescence to adulthood. Through the evolving relationship with his parents, their dog, and the landscape of Shillong, “I’m not here” is the author's search for his irrevocable condition.
Anurag Banerjee is an independent photographer from Shillong based out of Bombay. His work "Love in Bombay" explored intimacy in public spaces in the city and was widely published in print, exhibitions and online. His first photobook "I'm not here" was published in January 2022.
partnerships
Also launched in 2021, through this program we partner with other institutions to produce lens-based art works, exhibitions and projects.
ARCHIVAL MATTER / 2023
To tell the story of Nayana Jhaveri, an extraordinary woman and Manipuri dancer, way ahead of her time.
Nazar Foundation is partnering with Archival Matter to tell the story of Nayana Jhaveri, “A Life in Lasya”, an extraordinary woman and Manipuri dancer, way ahead of her time
Collaborating with Nayana Jhaveri’s daughter the project will culminate into a multi media exhibiton at the Goa Open Arts Festival 2024.
In 2027, the birth centenary of Nayana Jhaveri, a book will also be published.
ARCHIVAL MATTER was founded in 2022. With a singular purpose. To discover history beyond the history books.
Creating memorable films, multi-media installations, publications, social media content, and a whole lot more.
History then becomes fun, contemporary and cool.
HANS HINDI MAGAZINE / 2022
for photography of their literature festival celebrating women
Nazar Foundation partnered with Hans Magazine, the largest read literary magazine, to visually document their festival and to create an exhibition of portraits of women writers from 19th century onwards for their 3-day literature festival on Hindi literature which celebrated the journey of women in Literature. The festival was held in the last week of October 2022, at Bikaner House, New Delhi.
India's most prestigious and widely read Hindi literary monthly magazine 'Hans was started in 1930 by renowned writer Premchand. Usually it was a fiction magazine, but through its powerful articles, Hans exposed many important and revolutionary issues of the time. Today Hans is considered a heritage of Hindi literature. Many established writers of this time started their writing journey with Hans.
CHENNAI PHOTO BIENNALE FOUNDATION
to support the CPB Photo Awards / 2022
Nazar Foundation is once again partnering with the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation to support the CPB Photo Awards 2022.
Previous partnership was for the CPB Photo Awards 2021to support the jury process .
The CPB Foundation celebrates and promotes photography as a practice and an art form. Through lens-based educational programs and cross-disciplinary events, they aim to foster a community that inspires curiosity, reflection, and self-expression.
OFFSET PROJECTS / 2022
for participation at the Arles Book Fair
Nazar Foundation enabled the travel of Offset Projects to the Arles Book Fair 2022 to give an opportunity for visitors to engage with the work of several contemporary photographers from the subcontinent, offering a diverse visual voice from South Asia. They also launched their first publication Guftgu, a deconstructed photobook of conversations and works by ten contemporary photographers from the Global South on issues of gender and identity, curated by Anshika Varma.
Founded by artist Anshika Varma in 2018, Offset Projects is an initiative based out of New Delhi (India) that hopes to create channels of engagement in photography and book-making through workshops, residencies, artist talks, curated pop-up reading rooms and collaborations in publishing.
GOA OPEN ARTS / 2022
to support a short film by Akshay Parvatkar
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Nazar Foundation Is has partnered with the Goa Open Arts Catalyst Grant to support "Hanging by a Thread' a Konkani language short film by Akshay Parvatkar. The film attempts to showcase the oft-unseen dynamics of caste politics in urban spaces. At first glance, it is a sports film, about a young boy wanting to play football. But the film slowly peels apart, layer by layer, the casteism, inequality and patriarchy that govern our world.
Akshay Parvatkar, born and brought up in Goa, is a graduate of the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune. Parvatkar’s work draws a lot from his personal life and the culture and history of Goa.
INDIAN MEMORY PROJECT / 2021
to support research by sponsoring two researchers
In April 2021 Nazar Foundation sponsored researchers Vaskar Mech from Tezpur & Priyanka Kale from Pune for one month to work on stories for the Indian Memory Project. In all they gathered 18 stories which are posted on the Indian Memory Project website.
Founded in 2010 by Anusha Yadav, Indian Memory Project is the world’s first and most admired online visual & narrative archive that traces personal identities & histories of the Indian Subcontinent via images found in personal archives.
SUFI KATHAK FOUNDATION / 2021
to produce the exhibition of their Qawwali Photo Project
Nazar Foundation supported Sufi Kathak Foundation to produce an exhibition resulting from The Qawwali Photo Project, an initiative conceptualized and curated by Manjari Chaturvedi. The untold story of Qawwali unfolds through the eyes of photographers Leena Kejriwal, Mustafa Quraishi and Dinesh Khanna who document their art, their lives and their association with Sufi shrines.
Founded by Manjari Chaturvedi, Sufi Kathak Foundation is a non-profit formed to spread awareness about India’s intangible heritage in music and dance and to preserve the gradually fading more than seven hundred year old Spiritual traditions in Music.
projects
©Kanu Gandhi
KANU'S GANDHI
2011–
Nazar Foundation rescued rare and intimate photographs of the last 10 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s life by his personal chronicler and grandnephew Kanu Gandhi from obscurity, thereby giving a forgotten photographer his due credit.
©Uzma Mohsin
GIRL GAZE
2018–2019
A project culminating in an exhibition for Re-Imagine India exploring contemporary Indian and British culture through the prism of women’s lives in the Punjab, india, and the Black Country, UK.
©Anurag Banerjee
#feels #love
2018
An audio slideshow about intimacies in modern day India created by Anurag Banerjee for the Tiblisi Night of Photography in Tiblisi, Georgia.
©Arko Datto
A MILLION MUTINIES LATER
2017
An exhibition of contemporary lens based art from India produced by Nazar Foundation for Ffotogallery as part of Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography 2017.
©Sanjit Das
ICHHA
2014
Created for CRY (Child Rights and You) this exhibition was the result of a workshop and photography project conducted during their Click Rights Campaign for the girl child’s right to education.
NAZAR KA ADDA
2011–2014
A series of gatherings of photographers and lens-based artists to show, discuss and critique their work. Conducted over a period of 3 years it also acted as a community building exercise.
delhi photo festival
Delhi Photo Festival is currently suspended.
DELHI PHOTO FESTIVAL
2015
Theme: Aspire
Venues: Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts & Partner galleries across the city.
DELHI PHOTO FESTIVAL
2013
Theme: Grace
Venues: India Habitat Centre & Partner galleries across the city.
DELHI PHOTO FESTIVAL
2011
Theme: Affinity
Venue: India Habitat Centre
books
END OF TIME
Nazar Photography Monographs 04
RONNY SEN
Hand-signed limited edition of 500
Hard cover with slipcase
96 pages, 89 plates | 15 X 20 cm
KANU'S GANDHI
Nazar Photography Monographs 03
KANU GANDHI
Hardcover with fine art print
150 pages, 92 plates | 22.2 X 23.5 cm
WHEN ABBA WAS ILL
Nazar Photography Monographs 02
ADIL HASAN
Hard cover | 106 pages, including gatefolds | 6.25 X 8.25 in
HOME. STREET. HOME.
Nazar Photography Monographs 01
VICKY ROY
Soft cover | 112 pages
75 photographs
about
NAZAR FOUNDATION is a non-profit trust founded by photographers PRASHANT PANJIAR and DINESH KHANNA to promote lens-based art.
Recognizing the need of photo practitioners in India, wanting to come together, to form a community, to share and learn, we launched the Delhi Photo Festival in 2011, India's first international photo festival. Publishing followed with the Nazar Photography Monographs as well as other initiatives.
Due to the changed circumstances we are currently re-orienting our activities to support individuals and organizations working with lens-based arts.
Administrative Office: T 23/10 DLF City Phase III, Gurgaon, Haryana, India 122002
Registered Office: B–5&6/4393 Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India 110070
Email: info@nazarfoundation.org
Graphics: GOPIKA CHOWFLA DESIGN