What drives you to create the work you do?
Much of the work I do comes from self exploration.
Every time I create, I feel like I get a chance to know myself in a deeper way. I’ve always strived to be independent and find my voice by living through the hardships life throws at me; making art has been my way of doing that - this is what drives me; what motivates me to do more and do better with each project I take on.

Women photographers you look up to or whose work you love?
Petra Collins, Zoe Ghertner, Rema Chaudhary, Charlotte Ward and Dolly Devi are some of the amazing photographers whose work I love. They tell such beautiful stories through moments frozen in time. I’m honored to know three of these women personally in my life.

Who are the women who have changed photography, according to you?
I think women all over the world who have stayed true to their voice as artists and continued to be seen and heard relentlessly have been a major contribution towards changing photography through the female gaze.

Are there any taboos in photography that you’d like to break?
When I first got into photography, I wanted to photograph the human body in its most raw, natural form; the shapes the body can create are so beautiful to me. However, as a Muslim woman, it has been a challenging process to share the work that I create. It is quite in contrast to my upbringing to brazenly appreciate the naked form. I am looking to break free of these taboos and proudly create what truly inspires me.

My work finds its inspiration from the everyday lives of people around me. The deeply interconnected stories of craft, food, textiles, patterns, landscape, colors, people, language, beliefs, rituals, and customs are a source of inspiration for me.

I find Dayanita Singh's work very powerful especially the way she presents it is compelling and provoking. I also love Pamela Singh's work. Both of them have their own unique image crafting techniques.

For me each one’s journey and their story matters to me. Some women photographers are producing great work in the present world. The ability, strength, and courage to put their story out in the world through their craft/images are changing the narrative.

Regarding taboos in photography that I’d like to break, I reckon photography or any form of expression for that matter shouldn’t be restricted/biased towards any gender. For people to see a woman behind the camera lens and make a living out of it still comes as a shock. There still is a high gender disparity. But I am happy to see that the times are changing and a lot of women photographers are creating some meaningful work through female gaze.

There are a number of reasons that drive me to create my work, some might be deeper than others! But just yesterday, I met some incredible people on a set. Many of them were strong badass women. I think it’s the energy that is transferred amongst us that is infectious and addictive sometimes.

I really admire the works of Elsa & Johanna, Betina du Toit, Viviane Sassen, Anna Daki, Harley Weir. Probably a whole lot more.

For me, Carrie Mae Williams, Annie Leibovitz and Cindy Sherman have changed photography.

The one taboo that I’d like to break - the bigger or more important the shoot is, the more equipment and people are needed on set.
This is a rather famous method of working especially in India.

My work is a huge extension of me as a person. Self expression for me is so important that I put it even in my work. My work is me, it's colourful, it's quirky, it's different. I love experimenting, pushing boundaries, trying new things. I also put a lot of my activism, again as a part of me for body image, feminism, queerness, mental health, toxic masculinity etc. So I mix everything into my work. I think the fact that I can put out a message as well as create art and put so much creativity and colours, and still be able to do this for myself and others is really what drives me to keep doing the work that I do.

I look upto the works of many photographers from Mumbai itself or India. Like Pretika and Victoria, I have so many queer and women friends who are absolutely talented that I just love and get very inspired by seeing their work.

I've loved photographers like Ellen von Unwerth And Annie Leibovitz where they push the boundaries. Ellen specially for me has brought in something that I love which is the female energy and sexual and sensual side. And she's very bold with her work, like me so I relate a lot to her work. I think photographers like these and Annie herself being queer as well really pushed the boundaries in terms of just being a woman, creating and giving that freedom into their work. Really showing different sides of what being a woman is and it was inspiring for me to see work like this because being in a country where fighting for equal rights is still something you must do every single day and it's so hard to exist in a patriarchal society. When you see photographers like these and get driven, you know you can do the same in whichever place you're in.

I think taboos in photography are like taboos in any other sense. Within the society we live in, for example we are living in a patriarchal society, for women to be in this line of work is already seen as like a big deal when it really shouldn't. Because this is something everyone should be able to do. I feel like there are so many men who are photographers, hence there's only one gaze that's given to the audience sometimes. There needs to be more perspective like the female gaze is so important because there's a huge difference in narrative which is happening and can be easily seen when there's a photographer who is not a man. I feel like these taboos go along with the taboos that exist in society. Obviously, it's easier said than done to break them but I think inclusivity and representation is something that needs to be done in general. In photography especially, so that we can have more perspectives, inclusivity of different types of photographers and of course different gazes because it's important to have all and not just have one gaze that you're constantly fed, then you obviously get impacted by that.

I have come to realise that I just cannot sit idle. I need to hustle or keep learning new skills to simply exist and this is what drives me to create my work.

I really look up to the works of Lea Colombo and Erika Kamano from recent years.

One taboo that I’d like to break in photography is that everything doesn’t have to be political in this day and age. One’s work can be observational rather than it being commentary.

I was a writer first and it was an outlet for my endless creative energy and if I didn’t pour everything out I would go crazy. When I picked up a camera, it grew into an obsession. When I was shooting everything was perfect, making images gifted me with fearlessness and purpose. There are moments that I know will be extraordinary before they even happen. When I was a child I thought adult life would be full of these explosive moments but it turns out they are rare and fleeting, so I hold on tightly and breathe them in when they do come.

I look up to photojournalists mostly. I wanted to be one but was advised against it since I am a deeply shy person. I really love Saumya Khandelwal’s work, Lynsey Addario, Zahra Amiruddin. I probably look up to them because they do what I can’t do.

Of the women who have changed photography, for me its Ms. Leibovitz, who is a game changer. Sally Mann’s memoir was so impactful and life changing for me. Knowing Deepti Asthana, talking to her and seeing all that she does for women in photography has been so inspiring to me. She is the change we need currently.

The taboo I’d like to break is practising photography as a profession and as art, I personally see that these boundaries barely exist and as exciting as it is, it gives me whiplash trying to keep up. Maybe I’d like to acknowledge that sometimes I don’t have anything to say about an image I made. I just wanted it to look nice, it’s not that deep. I don’t know if that’s taboo in the art world, but that’s how it works for me.

The taboo I’d like to break is practising photography as a profession and as art, I personally see that these boundaries barely exist and as exciting as it is, it gives me whiplash trying to keep up. Maybe I’d like to acknowledge that sometimes I don’t have anything to say about an image I made. I just wanted it to look nice, it’s not that deep. I don’t know if that’s taboo in the art world, but that’s how it works for me.

There are a lot of international photographers creating amazing work. Margaret Bourke-White photographed the partition and those images are evidence to our history which will be unchanged forever. We don’t necessarily capture the times we live in like documented history. Photography has been used very differently over the last decade. There are many people I look up to and when I photograph, I have to fight the point of view of all the images that I liked of my mentors, seniors, my father, contemporaries to find my own voice each time. It’s necessary to erase our memory and work from ground zero, because everything’s been shot. To have the opportunity to have a camera in hand and to photograph it yet again but in a new way this time with a new voice.

Taboos come when you’re capturing, they are not big things and stereotypes. They’re small things that become big. So when you’re photographing, you see that in your frame and you break out of it. It’s a frame, you either get imprisoned or you break out of it. But for taboos as a thing, I wouldn’t want to talk about a way of seeing things and exploration in taboo.

My own creative development. Every now and then I look back at my work and see growth, that is what drives me.

I think Sally Mann and Cindy Sherman really changed photography.

One thing I would like to see more of is equal opportunity and diversity on both sides of the camera. The more perspectives we have the more it will change how we view the world and ourselves. I think we are moving towards that.

I guess it's in my blood to create stories. My grandma was an amazing story teller, she would give me fantastic stories within minutes of me giving her a theme. When I started photography I was bored of commercial advertising and wanted my work to be about real life, inspiring stories and the realities of conflict in our culture and nature.

I love the work of Deborah Tuberville, Nadine Ijewere, Elizaveta Porodina and Leslie Zhang.

Photography styles are constantly evolving across the world. I do feel that things got interesting around the time Diane Arbus started to shoot her personal work, shifting her gaze away from the glamorous world she was used to and focusing her lens on people who did not fit into her society. She found access and gained trust with people very different from her and documented their lives like never before. We see that influence on many photographers today.

For me, I want to step away from known and accepted ideas of beauty, especially the body. We have created this box, that only a certain type of person should be a model, and that only models or people with perfect bodies are allowed to "put themselves out there". It is powerful to be self assured and comfortable in your skin, to take back your narrative, this is the taboo I’d like to break.

To have a home for my imagination to exist in and to sow seeds of thought is what drives me to keep creating.

I have always loved the work of Dayanita Singh. The gentleness and quiet observation in her work spoke to me at a time when I was used to seeing photography by men.

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On taboos in photography that she’d like to break - the industry still commissions visual narratives set in patriarchy, colourism, gatekeeps through class and caste hegemony, and indulges in the culture of waste and excess. I feel it is important to question, in this medium, whose stories are told, by whom and who has access to tell their stories. I’m intentionally learning and applying those learnings to my practice.

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