Nishant Shukla is a visual artist, photographer, and jetsetter; frequently bouncing between London and India with his camera. His personal body of work addresses questions of identity, origins, and essence and he commemorates images via peripheral moments, spaces, and people. Shukla entangles his experiences and art into his journey in which he is introspective and evolving as a person.

 

Shukla constantly putters all over the world and published one of his adventures into a book called Seeking Moksha. The content illustrates Shukla’s personal journey focusing on the search for capturing the spirit of people he encountered on a pilgrimage to collect water for his grandfather. During this experience, Shukla hiked the mountains near the Ganga from 2011 to 2016 and his book includes findings, photos, and his travel diary from this self-reflecting expedition.

 

Adding to his coolness, we love that Shukla co-founded a tangible project with four other artists called BIND; the purpose of the project is to foster new narratives and promote unique engagement with the photobook as an art medium. BIND is a platform for contemporary photography in the form of a public library featuring visually stimulating photo books in India. In addition to the five artist’s personal collections, the books displayed in the library have been generously donated by authors, publishers, and institutions that believe in the commitment to share visual stories with global audiences while fostering discussions around the photobook as a specific form of expression.

 

 

Art Zealous sat down with Shukla to take a deeper dive into his projects and quest for self-exploration.

 

Art Zealous: Art background?

Nishant Shukla: I never finished school as I wasn’t really interested in studying the science-based education that was expected of me at the time. Taking photographs was always a grounding experience for me, but I never thought of it as something serious.

 

When I was 18, I saw a beautiful colour Polaroid of a friend taken by a photographer and I was fascinated by the idea of being a photographer myself, without any understanding of how to go about it. A few years later,  I applied to photography courses at universities never expecting to be accepted. Surprisingly, I received an offer even though I didn’t know the name of a single photographer and I had never been to a photography exhibition. It took me a year and a half at university before I got hooked on taking pictures – my fascination was triggered by looking down at the ground glass of a film camera. I also had the wonderful opportunity to spend meaningful time with photo books at my photography tutor’s personal library that influenced me deeply.

 

AZ: Currently reading?

NS: Been finding it difficult to read physical books. I’ve been listening to Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit as an audiobook at the moment.

 

AZ: Phone background?

NS: My phone background is a picture I took in 2015 of the midday shadow of tree branches on the ground in the Himalayas. At the time, I was collecting leaves and branches for a project I was working on near the source of Ganga. I couldn’t help but notice how the vein of the leaves, the shadow of the tree branches, the tributaries of rivers and the arteries in the human body all followed similar patterns which allowed energy to be distributed.

 

AZ: Favorite spots to shoot in both London and India?

NS: I don’t have any favourite spots as such. I think pictures appear almost anywhere you are willing to look.

 

AZ: When you’re traveling back and forth between countries, what are you listening to?

NS: I’m listening to a lot of different music but not really in touch with anything new.  I like listening to a lot of early Iron & Wine on repeat and Leonard Cohen. Sometimes when I need to get something done and need an extra boost of energy, I listen to grime instrumentals, drum, bass, and techno.

 

AZ: Please elaborate on how your body of work addresses questions of identity, origins, and essence.

NS: A lot of my work stems from exploring a need for belonging, whether belonging to a community or a country. The process of creating this work allows me to contemplate my own purpose, place, and relationship with the world that I inhabit and encounter. Photography has always been the tool that legitimises this inquiry for me.

 

 

AZ: How do you select the people you choose to capture on film?

NS: Often times you just know that you want to photograph someone and then you have to ask their permission. I believe it isn’t just me that chooses the people I photograph, but rather a collaboration where people choose me to photograph them as well. It is always a collaboration, we are always in agreement.

 

 

AZ: Your portraits of people are gorgeous – how do you choose where to photograph them?

NS: I used to be very prescriptive and controlling about how I photograph people, but that approach has changed over the years. Nowadays, I much prefer to be invited into a stranger’s home because I find that interaction very interesting. The experience allows the subject to be both vulnerable yet open in a gently negotiated space where they want to be photographed.

 

 

AZ: Your project Seeking Moksha was published into a beautiful book. In your journey to create it, you were looking for people who seemed lost – what was that process like?

NS: I had no idea what I was looking for. When I first started the project, I was mostly making portraits of the pilgrims that visited the locations. Throughout the six years I worked on the project, the focus and ideas kept shifting and changing. The timing was also a period of growth in my personal practice as well, so I was open to the project evolution.  So in all honesty, I felt like I was the one that was lost, and on that journey, I encountered other people that seemed to be trying to find their way as well.

 

 

AZ: Tell us about BIND and how you became involved with that project.

NS: BIND is an open platform for contemporary photography which focuses on the book as a form of expression. Our project is built around a photobook library that functions as a resource as well as a conversational space for the community. BIND was co-founded by five practicing photographers with a shared love for photo books: myself, Philippe Calia, Andrea Fernandes, Asmita Parelkar, & Sunil Thakkar.

 

While the library is currently based in Mumbai and open to all, it is also a traveling concept. Our team is invested in the growth of the library as well as the dissemination of photobooks in the region. Through pop-up photobook exhibitions, we exercise our commitment to the accessibility, legibility, and artistry of the photobook concept.

 

AZ: Tell us about your public photobook library based in Bombay and the type of customers that frequent the space.

NS: We largely have students, researchers, academics, graphic designers, and photographers who frequently visit the space, however, it is open to the public.

 

AZ: Favorite quote?

NS: “We are forever prisoners locked in the present, transitioning between the past and future” by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

 

AZ: Currently working on?

NS: Something about escape and disappearance.

 

 

AZ: What can we expect to see from you in the future?

NS: More books born out of introspection.

 

Follow Nishant on Instagram.

 


Images provided by Nishant Shukla.