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Poulomi Basu
Poulomi Basu has spent her career challenging power and oppression. “My work is all about questioning power and injustice because growing up I had so little of it,” Basu said.
Basu, who was born and raised in Kolkata, India, uses visual arts as a creative tool to shine a light on the plight of South Asian women facing misogyny under systemic patriarchal oppression, including highly-personal work that features herself and her mother as subjects.
She said her work is a way of reckoning with shame, violence and the need for acceptance.
“My mother and I were both victims of domestic violence and assault and every other thing that comes with it,” Basu said. “While I managed to escape, thanks to her sacrifice, she continues to live in a threatening space.”
In To Conquer Her Land, Basu tells the story of India's first cohort of border armed force women who were serving at the India/Pakistan border.
Blood Speaks addresses the practice of Chaupadi, a form menstrual exile where women are sequestered from their families.
Centralia is a docufiction in which indigenous women have become guerillas to fight the government to save the forests in Central India they call home.
In the highly-personal work, Fireflies, Basu turns her camera on herself and her mother to celebrate the vulnerability and magic of their bodies in both still photography and film formats.
Through a series of highly-produced self-portraits in Sisters of the Moon, Basu places her body in a dystopian, fictional landscape on the frontline of climate change.
The power of these works led the International Center of Photography to honor Basu with the 2023 Infinity Awards: Contemporary Photography & New Media Award.
Basu said the power of her work comes from channeling her personal experience.
“Everything I've ever gone through in my life has been directly propelled into the work I make,” she said. “I'm just someone who navigates the world around addressing injustice and tries to disrupt power wherever I can.”
About the ICP Infinity Awards
Since 1985, the annual ICP Infinity Awards have recognized major contributions and emerging talent in the fields of photojournalism, art, fashion photography, and publishing. Support the ICP Infinity Awards at icp.org/donate. All proceeds directly benefit ICP’s education and exhibition programs.