We are a collective of photographers and researchers working with our respective interests to create a common platform to bring together visual and oral stories of the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalayas. We endeavour to strengthen this platform by bringing together art practices and research from and of the region. We believe that in doing so we can offer a space to understand the Hills and its history beyond the homogenised colonial discourses that continue to dominate the understanding of the place. Through close engagements with the local community, we hope to build a strong creative and collaborative platform fostering a culture of knowledge production and sharing from the margins.
Mridu Rai
Mridu Rai is a researcher and cultural practitioner working to develop critical and creative methodologies in visual culture. She has curated Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Through Her Lens programme. She is the recipient of the Critical Collective - PhotoSouthAsia Young Writers Award (2021) for lens-based practices. The Royal Anthropological Institute, London has hosted her exhibition titled How Do I Bring You Home? which explores decolonizing methodologies of engaging with a colonial archive.
Dipti Tamang
She is PhD scholar, currently employed as a full time faculty in Darjeeling Government College. Her areas of interest are gender, conflict and regional identities with focus on Himalayan regions. She holds a PhD in International Studies from J.N.U and is also currently an awardee of the Nehru-Fulbright post- doctoral grant (2020- 2021). She is a former recipient of the Zuban-Sasakawa Peace foundation grant (2019) and has worked on the women’s movement in the Darjeeling Hills. Oral and visual practices form an important part of her research methodology in contextualizing and analyzing the contested regional identities of the political history of Darjeeling hills. She regularly writes and is published with reputed journals and web pages.
Praveen Chettri
Photographer based out of Kalimpong, West Bengal. He worked as in-house photographer for Numero-French fashion magazine in Bangkok, Thailand. Having worked on numerous photo projects in Darjeeling hills and Sikkim Praveen has been involved in several initiatives to educate and bring awareness on pertinent issues relating to Darjeeling hills and Sikkim through the medium of art.
Ashwin Sharma
Ashwin Sharma is a Photographer and a Video Editor based in New Delhi, India.
Kunga Tashi
An independent photographer based out of Gangtok, Sikkim. His personal work mostly revolves around the notions of space, identity and memories. In 2019, he received the Amiyaprabha Chaudhuri Memorial Grant from Egaro Photo Festival for his project ‘Days Of Summer’. He was part of the 2018 Angkor Photo Workshop/Festival, Cambodia. In 2016, he was part of the Project Denjong team, which carried out the digitisation, preservation and cataloguing of old documents and photographs of the 'Sikkim Palace Archives' (1875-1975) under the British Library’s Endangered Archive Programme and Arcadia.
www.kungatashi.com
Shivam Darnal
Freelance photographer based out of Darjeeling and works as an assistant teacher at the Municipal Boys’ High School, Darjeeling. He uses photography as a medium to express and tell stories.