Description
OD Photo Prize 2025 | Judges Pick
Aaryan Sinha [b.2001, New Delhi] is a photographer and artist based between India and Europe. His work explores the shifting nature of Indian identity within a Western context, engaging with themes of colonialism, personal memory, cultural appropriation, and intergenerational inheritance. Using photography, archival material, and text, Sinha interrogates dominant narratives and visual clichés often imposed on India, striving instead for a more layered and self-aware representation of his homeland.
Raised in India and now working across Europe, Sinha’s practice is rooted in the duality of place and perspective. Projects such as Namaste or Whatever investigate the long shadow of colonial photography and how its visual grammar continues to inform both global perceptions and personal understanding of Indian identity. In This Isn’t Divide and Conquer, Sinha journeys through five Indian states bordering Pakistan, reflecting on the scars left by Partition and the resurgence of divisive ideologies in contemporary India.
Artist Statement | “Namaste or Whatever” is a visual research project that investigates the complex relationship between India and the West, using the history of photography as a point of reference. Through this work, I explore how photography has been used to perpetuate clichés, appropriate culture, and shape perceptions, often reinforcing colonial narratives. Photography was introduced to India by the British in the mid-1850s, serving as a tool to catalog ethnicities, communities, and landscapes. This process reduced India to an exotic spectacle, framing it through the lens of Western desires and power. Historically, the term “Indian Photography” often referred to images of India created by outsiders, continuing a fraught dialogue between India and the West. The British gaze isolated subjects from the web of meanings they were embedded in, robbing them of their depth and spirit. As an artist, I confront similar questions. Raised in India but deeply influenced by Western media, I often find my own work interrogated for perpetuating visual clichés. My photographs of India when I first picked up a camera can be critiqued as reflecting a Western gaze—depicting a poverty-stricken, yoga-obsessed, overpopulated land. These critiques forced me to reflect on how global narratives shape not only international perceptions but also the way I see and represent my own country. In my practice, I question the inherent biases I have internalized, exploring the tension between cultural authenticity and global expectations. Ultimately, “Namaste or Whatever” interrogates questions of audience and purpose: Who is art for, and how do we present it authentically to our own communities? The project aims to dismantle inherited narratives, challenge visual clichés, and foster a nuanced understanding of Indian identity in global consciousness.
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