Lenscape Kerala arrives in Mumbai bringing together 10 photographic viewpoints together

Lenscape Kerala arrives in Mumbai as a photography exhibition shaped by careful looking rather than display. Presented by Kerala Tourism and curated by art historian and critic Uma Nair, the exhibition brings together 100 photographs by 10 photographers whose practices range across wildlife, portraiture, architecture and everyday social life. On view at the Terrace Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery from February 12 to 15, the exhibition offers a considered account of Kerala built through observation, patience and visual clarity.

Lenscape Kerala: Photography, Memory and the Practice of Looking

Uma, who was born in Kerala and has spent decades writing and curating across the visual arts, approaches the project with an emphasis on authorship. The photographers like Amit Pasricha, Manoj Arora, Aishwarya Sridhar, Natasha Kartar Hemrajani, H Satish, Shivang Mehta, Saurabh Anand Chatterjee, Saibal Das, Umesh Gogna and Kounteya Sinha, bring strongly defined approaches to their subjects. Rather than compressing these viewpoints into a single storyline, the exhibition allows difference to remain visible.

“The work of the photographers in terms of their inner eye, their intuitive understanding and their experiences became the most important criterion,” Uma says. “Above that the respect that I had for each one.” That respect is evident in the sequencing of the exhibition, where wildlife imagery sits alongside domestic scenes, and ritual performance appears next to contemporary street life. The exhibition does not attempt to settle these contrasts. It places them side by side and allows viewers to draw their own connections.

Directed by award-winning photographer Balan Madhavan, Lenscape Kerala spans a wide visual field. Aishwarya Sridhar’s wildlife photographs demand time from the viewer. Her aerial images focus on pattern, movement and habitat, revealing ecological relationships that are often overlooked. Nair speaks about the discipline behind this work, noting the patience required to produce such images and the sensory charge they carry.

Shivang Mehta’s nocturnal wildlife photographs introduce another register. “You look at Shivang Mehta’s nocturnal images of wildlife and realise we know nothing about nature’s bounties,” Uma says. “The owl is most fascinating. I’m an owl lover. It’s a National Geographic moment.” These images shift attention towards the unseen hours of the natural world, where proximity replaces drama.

Human presence appears through direct and contemporary observation. Saibal Das’s photograph of two girls looking at their phones records an everyday scene with precision. Uma describes it as evocative, drawn to the way an ordinary gesture can carry social meaning. Amit Pasricha’s panoramic photographs of Alappuzha shift the focus towards scale and continuity. Pasricha, the son of renowned photographer Avinash Pasricha, approaches place through continuity and spatial depth. For Nair, whose father came from Alappuzha, these images carry personal meaning. “So much nostalgia for me and the call to integrity it all added up to humility of purpose,” she says.

Uma Nair’s long relationship with Kerala informs the curatorial framework without overt sentiment. Asked whether contemporary lenses revealed unfamiliar aspects of the state, her response remains grounded. She speaks instead of recognition, rooted in memory and long familiarity with the place. To explain how time operates in the exhibition, she refers to TS Eliot, suggesting that the past and present are in constant conversation rather than fixed in separate frames. The photographs reflect this approach, moving between ritual, labour, leisure and environment without assigning hierarchy.

Lenscape Kerala is conceived as a travelling exhibition that will move across 10 Indian cities. Audience response, Uma suggests, changes with location. “Audiences love stories,” she says. “I chose images that tell stories and create open ended sensations and perceptions.” In Vadodara, she recalls photographers engaging closely with technique and process. Elsewhere, conversations moved towards teaching, memory and colour theory. She speaks of discussions around monochrome and colour with veteran artist and pedagogue Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, emphasising photography’s capacity to sustain long-form dialogue.

Kerala Tourism frames the exhibition as cultural documentation and as a prompt for mindful travel. For Uma, the idea is rooted in experience rather than abstraction. “Mindful travel is when we take a trip that is meant to educate as well as entertain and leave reflections that will last a lifetime,” she says. Photography plays a central role in this process. By slowing the act of looking, it encourages viewers to recognise detail, labour and environment as connected realities. The shift from observer to participant begins with attention.

The exhibition moves between colour and black-and-white photography without privileging one over the other. Uma is clear that this decision belongs to the photographers. “Colour or monochromatic is chosen by the photographer,” she explains. “The colour images talk to us about tonal contrasts, the black and white draw our attention to composition. It creates its own narratives and that is the power of photography.” Her own education in the medium developed through years of visiting exhibitions in Washington DC and New York during the 1990s, guided by editors and mentors who emphasised disciplined looking. “Everything is about ways of seeing,” she says. “Ultimately this exhibition is about photographers. I’m only an instrument.”

That focus on learning extends beyond the exhibition itself. On February 13, a free photography masterclass will be held at the gallery from 2 pm to 5 pm, led by Amit Pasricha, Manoj Arora, Aishwarya Sridhar and Natasha Kartar Hemrajani. Positioned within the exhibition programme, the session invites students, practitioners and enthusiasts into direct exchange with photographers whose work defines the show.

Open daily from 11 am to 8 pm with free entry, Lenscape Kerala encourages return visits rather than a single walkthrough. Over time, the exhibition reveals a composite portrait shaped by 10 distinct viewpoints, grounded in observation and visual precision. In presenting Kerala through sustained attention, the exhibition offers audiences across cities a chance to look closely and carry those impressions forward.

Masterclass Date: February 13 | 2 pm to 5 pm 

Mentors: Amit Pasricha, Manoj Arora, Aishwarya Sridhar and Natasha Kartar Hemrajani

Exhibition dates: February 12-15 | 11 am to 8 pm

Venue: Terrace Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery 161B, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra

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