Ep 20: Portrait of a Citizen - '2024: Notes from a Generation'

On this Artalaap episode, Kamayani Sharma speaks to Prarthna Singh and writer Snigdha Poonam abouttheir multimedia project 2024: Notes from a Generation.

In five years, the two artists travelled all over Indiaphotographing and interviewing people between the ages of 18 and 25, who would vote the national elections of 2024.

We talk about how to conduct photoshoots and interviews with a diverse swathe of Gen Z Indians from all overthe country, what it means to assemble and frame an audiovisual archive of citizens and why hope was so central to this long-term project of seeing and listening.

Click here to access the Image Guide.

Click here to access the time-stamped transcript.

OUR GUESTS

Prarthna Singh’s work explores questions of feminineidentity and gender, especially as it intersects with the fraught politics of nationalism in contemporary India. Her work has appeared in publications worldwide including TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian and the BBC. She has exhibited internationally, most recently at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Her self-published book, Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh: One Hundred Days of Resistance was named one of the best photo books of 2022 by LensCulture.

Snigdha Poonam is a journalist and writer investigating trends in India's politics, culture, and society. She has worked for The Hindustan Times and The Caravan in Delhi, and The Hindu in Bangalore. Her articles and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist, Granta, The Atlantic, CNN, and The Financial Times. Released in 2018, her first book, Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World, has won awards and nominations worldwide.

CREDITS

Producer: Square Wave Studios, New Delhi

Images courtesy Prarthna Singh

Design & artwork: Mohini Mukherjee

Promo artwork: Jasper Levi

Production associate: Amir Bin Rafi

Additional support: Raghav Sagar & Anu Balasubramaniam

Audio courtesy: Vernouillet by Blue Dot Sessions [CCBY-NC 4.0]

CONTENTS

00:00 - 00:37 Welcome to the episode.

00:37 – 01:02 Image Guide link.

01:02 - 03:34 Introduction

03:34 - 07:48 How did the project begin?

07:49 - 14:57 Organising the logistics of photoshoots& interviews

14:58 - 20:57 The politics of the photographic portraitin the era of the selfie.

20:58 – 23:22 Developing portraits through words.

23:23 – 26:47 Frames of citizenship and listening in.

26:48 – 31:15 Excerpts and comments about the audioclips of soundscapes from the exhibition.

31:15 – 33:30 Matters of trust.

31:31 - 35:43 The temporality of the portrait.

35:44 – 38:25  What’snext for the series?

38:35 – 39:28 – Closing comments by the host.

REFERENCES

Ariella Azoulay, The Civil Contract of Photography, 2008.

Snidgha Poonam, Dreamers, 2018.

Kamayani Sharma, "Prarthna Singh: 100 Days of Resistance", Aperture, Summer 2021.

https://archive.aperture.org/article/2021/2/2/prarthna-singh