INDIA: Contemporary Photography and New Media Art

INDIA: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art presents 46 contemporary artists and collectives working in dialogue with the long history and emergent future of India and its people. The book focuses on the contemporary moment, and a range of approaches are included, including art photography, contemporary practices, installation, moving image, journalistic and documentary photography. Themes include caste and class, the partitioning of the sub-continent, gender and sexuality, conflict, religion, nationalism, new technologies and developments, the environment, human settlement, and migration.

"As a large, multilingual subcontinent, India has always relied on images to maintain a cohesive whole across myriad subcultures, regions, castes and languages. The introduction of photomechanical imaging in the nineteenth century enabled the rapid reproduction and dissemination of both spiritual and scientific ideals," states author and editor Sunil Gupta, continuing, "Photography for most of its history was too expensive and technical and was left in the hands of 'experts' - until the birth of digital technologies. The book addresses the legacy of the last twenty years, a period when photography and moving image media have been consistently included within critical exhibitions of fine art."

Edited by Sunil Gupta, Delhi-born artist and curator, and Steven Evans, curator and FotoFest Executive Director, and including essays from experts on the region and contemporary art.