Photography exhibition Interior Weather opens in Mumbai, exploring the idea of home through personal memories

The photography exhibition Interior Weather is currently on view in Mumbai, featuring works by nine photographers: Adira Thekkuveettil, Divya Cowasji, Kirthana Devdas, Menty Jamir, Mithila Jariwala, Pavithra Ramanujam, Riti Sengupta, Vinita Barretto and Zahra Amiruddin. Presented by the 8:30 Collective, the exhibition explores the emotional landscapes of domestic spaces and marks the collective’s first showing in the city.

How Interior Weather began

The idea for Interior Weather began in 2022, when the photographers came together for a residency in Goa under the mentorship of photographer Dayanita Singh. As they reviewed their images during the residency, they began noticing a common thread in their work.

“In 2022, the collective came together for a residency in Goa, mentored by Dayanita Singh. As we laid out our photographs on the edit tables, we noticed a pattern beginning to emerge. It felt as though we had been subconsciously drawn back to certain memories, spaces and relationships with our homes,” the artists tell Indulge Express.

Personal stories within domestic spaces

Across the works, everyday spaces and intimate moments become anchors of memory. In Divya Cowasji’s photographs, the presence and absence of her beloved dog Mowgli becomes central to her idea of home. Vinita Barretto’s images revolve around her mother and the adopted pets that fill their home, while many moments in Zahra Amiruddin’s work unfold around the jajam, a traditional floor textile often used as a gathering space.

For Kirthana Devdas, the project connects to a longer photographic journey. Since 2011, she has documented the ritual of Thira at her ancestral temple, returning each year until 2019. During the residency, these ritual images began merging with photographs of her family and ancestral home, forming a body of work she had not initially imagined.

Beyond the physical idea of home

The artists say the exhibition became less about the structure of a house and more about the emotions and memories attached to it.

“During the residency, we realised that what shaped the work we chose was not simply the idea of home. Instead, it was the relationships and memories connected to those spaces that felt most personal to us,” they explain.

Different backgrounds, shared themes

The nine photographers come from different cultural and geographical backgrounds, something they see as a strength.

“Our cultural or geographical differences do not necessarily shape how we photograph our domestic spaces. When we work individually, we respond instinctively to what feels familiar within our homes. But when we present the work together, those differences become meaningful,” they say.

Together, these perspectives create a broader portrait of home across regions and cultures.

“As a group of nine photographers with distinct backgrounds, we see our diversity as a strength. Bringing these perspectives together allows us to create a map of where we come from, sharing glimpses of our food, mother tongues and environments. Together, they reveal how varied yet intimate the idea of home can be,” they add.

Individual perspectives in the exhibition

Within the exhibition, individual projects reflect personal connections to domestic spaces. Menty Jamir turns her gaze to the kitchen, a central space in Naga homes, capturing its cultural and emotional significance. For Kirthana Devdas, returning to her ancestral home in Mahe shapes the rhythm of her photographic practice. Meanwhile, Riti Sengupta explores domestic interiors to understand how traces of identity and presence remain embedded in everyday spaces.

We sat with such three artists in conversation…

Menty Jamir

Your photographs centre the kitchen within Naga homes, describing it as a spiritual and cultural core. What drew you to this space, and what stories does it hold for you as a photographer?

“The kitchen drew me in long before I consciously decided to document it. It is the kitchen and the garden that I grew up around. In Naga homes, the kitchen is never just a place to cook food; it is where stories are told, decisions are made, grief unfolds, and traditions are quietly passed down.

When I photograph the kitchen, I realise that I am not merely documenting a space, but the essence and stories of an Ao Naga household. Everything is in the details, with stories quietly revealing themselves and asking us to listen closely.”

Kirthana Devdas

Your work reflects on an ancestral home in Mahe where memory, culture, and time seem to converge. How does returning to such spaces influence the way you photograph them?

“As a photographer, returning to the same place over time becomes a way of recording time itself. You begin to notice quieter movements within the same space. It brings a certain ease to the image-making process that allows you to look beyond the obvious, and you slowly become a witness to things as they unfold.”

Riti Sengupta

Your work often explores memory and identity through domestic interiors. What interests you about photographing spaces where traces of people remain even in their absence?

“So much of our lived spaces reflects who we are as people. Even when we don’t see the occupant of a particular room, their belongings make us imagine the person in a certain way.

For me, it is interesting to look at the tiny details that make a space a home. Sometimes I feel a room can reveal more about a person than faces or words can.”

Through these layered perspectives, Interior Weather invites viewers to reflect on how homes hold stories — not only through architecture or objects, but through the memories, rituals and relationships that quietly inhabit them.

What/Where/When

Interior Weather, by the 8:30 Collective, opens at the Dilip Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA, Mumbai, on March 12, 2026, and will remain on view to the public until March 28.

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