14th June 2020
6pm IST
The webinar will be held on the online platform Zoom. To join the webinar please click on the link below:

To wrap up our last session of the Guftgu series Marathon run for 2020 we will be in conversation with Diwas Raja KC, Alisha Sett & Shafat Farooq on the intricacies and political motivations within photographic archives.

Preparations at the exhibition site of Pathshala Under Construction Site on 26th February 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo by Sebi Berens / Chobi Mela X Chobi Mela, the international festival of photography since its inception in 2000 has been the most significant photographic event in Asia, and the first of a regular biennale, one that has become one of the highlights of the Asian calendar. It is organised by Drik Picture Library Ltd. and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute. The Tenth edition of Chobi Mela will be held from February 28 till March 9, 2019. This photo may only be used after consultation with the Chobi Mela Festival and/or the author. The delivery is according to our terms and conditions. A voucher copy is requested. Chobi Mela X Team, 2019 ©

About our panelists : 

Diwas Raja KC

Diwas Raja Kc is currently the Head of Research & Archives at Nepal Picture Library, where his work has focused on engendering a research-based approach to art, archival and curatorial practice. His curatorial show and subsequent photobook Dalit: A Quest for Dignity (2016) explored ways of witnessing Dalit pasts in Nepal. His co-curated exhibition The Public Life of Women (2018) monumentalized feminist pasts in Nepal as an intervention in public memory. He also works as a documentary film editor.

Alisha Sett

Alisha Sett is a writer, curator, editor and educator. She is Course Director for Aesthetics, Criticism and Theory at Jnanapravaha Mumbai, co-director of Kashmir Photo Collective, and a producer for RoundO Films LLC. Most recently, she has joined the editorial board of Membrana.

Sett has been a Curatorial Intensive South Asia Fellow at Khoj International Artists Association/Goethe Insitut and an Edmond J. Safra Network Fellow at Harvard University. She holds an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, a degree she received as an Inlaks Scholar, and a BA in Political Science and English Literature from Tufts University.

Shafat Farooq

Shafat Farooq is a multimedia Journalist based in Srinagar, Kashmir specializing in documenting regions of conflict and areas under strife. He has nine years of experience in journalism and currently works for the BBC as a multimedia producer. 

Farooq’s career began as a print journalist working with the English daily newspaper Rising Kashmir (2011-2012), The Kashmir Monitor (2012-2014), and a freelance feature writer and multimedia producer (2014-2016). In 2016, Farooq joined Greater Kashmir TV where he headed the multimedia division and produced numerous video reports and web documentaries for the organization until joining the BBC in 2018.  

In addition to this experience, Farooq has worked as a contributor with numerous international news organisations including ABC and TIME. Farooq is an aspiring filmmaker from the region. Over the course of his career, he has covered numerous breaking news events in Kashmir including massive anti-India uprisings and the devastating floods that hit the region in 2014. Last year in September, Farooq along with a french colleague won Bayeux-Calvados Normandy Awards for a news documentary in the Grand Format Television category.

Kashmir Photo Collective (KPC) is a digital resource of endangered photographs and related historical material that preserve, visualize, and diversify histories of the Kashmir Valley. Founded in 2014, KPC has archived numerous private collections with the generous commitment of individuals, families, photo studios, photographers as well as institutions. Our network of artists, scholars, media professionals and educators work individually and collaboratively on projects that take a variety of forms – such as scholarship, exhibitions, and curricula – through which KPC aims to make its work more accessible to the public each year.