Shortlist for Iyarki grant
Shortlisted for Iyarki grant for the proposal ‘Collective memory of a shoreline’ based on Trivandrum shoreline.
Project 365 virtual exhibition
Photos from the ‘Project 365 based on Tiruvannamalai’ part of the virtual exhibition at the Magnet galleries in Melbourne.
On Kara weaves
Chitra’s journey of Kara weaves in Cranbrook Academy of Arts book accompanied by Mani chettan’s image from the local weaving society.
Salt, Pepper & silverlinings
The upgraded look of cover page of Salt, Pepper & silverlinings edited by Abirami and Babitha.
Salt, Pepper & silverlinings
Grandmother series of photos getting published in Salt, Pepper & silverlinings edited by Abirami and Babitha.
Grandmother’s hands!
As my grandmother now at 102, holds various things in her hand!
Making an inclusive mountain
ETP trust’s Project 365 based on Tiruvannamalai is published in Google Arts & Culture. Making an inclusive mountain also showcases my theme Based on Religion, Politics and Cinema of Tamil Nadu.
Lost reflections
Article on how weeds are choking the Kuttandu water ways and its effect on social economy. Online article is here.
Pondy photo 2016
Land of Lost reflection, the deterioration of water ways in Kuttanad being exhibited at Pondyphoto 2016.
Pondy photo 2016
Exhibiting my series on water crisis in Kuttanad as part of Pondy photo 2016. Also glad to see not just water-less conditions but water mismanagement is also a theme at the festival.
The State of Architecture
The state of Architecture exhibition at NGMA Mumbai showcased some of the Baker building photographs as part of the timeline.
Threads with Kara weaves!
Recently made a few of these tiny videos for Kara weaves! A video posted by Seema Krishnakumar (@seemskk) on Mar 22, 2016 at 3:51am PDT A video posted by Seema Krishnakumar (@seemskk) on Mar 21, 2016 at 12:14pm PDT
TN 25
I’m an Auto man! Auto man who knows all the routes, have fair rate!” (Naan Autokaaran Autokaaran Naalum Therinja Rootukaaran Nyayamulla Roatukaaran, Nallavanga Kootukaaran) – Rajnikanth / Basha Tiruvannamalai’s autos as windows to region’s politics, cinema and religion. The carrier often reflects its owner’s individual leanings and tastes. The series encapsulate the spirit of Tamil culture …
Brick
Lovely to see photo along some other wonderful brick structures. Brick by Phaidon press.
Political Affiliations
A glimpse of Tamil Nadu political images and iconography. I can’t quiet say where its heading, but certainly the affiliations are much life size and different from many other parts of the country.
Land of the lamp bearers
Cover photo for Gargi’s novel Land of the lamp bearers!
Let’s travel somewhere!
A pleasure to see full blown pictures of Meghalaya on the web! Thank you Let’s Travel Somewhere!
Pride of Vernacular Architecture
Pride of vernacular architecture, a photo feature on Padmanabhapuram palace published in today’s The Hindu Metro plus. Earlier blog post is here.
Washing!
So this would be the first officially published instagram from me! Interestingly appearing in India pre election web edition of The Guardian. Subramanian, the mobile vendor goes here in The Guardian.
A muddy crochet mat!
Then there was this night when I knew stars wander not just in skies but on the muddy soils of tiny villages in Tamil Nadu. Not that I was unaware of the tiny dots and zig zag lines that adorn the humble courtyards of South Indian homes, but the realisation these everyday artists knew very …
Smell of memories
How to smell memories? It does take time…
Red checks and floral jackets
The story on Kochin Kavaya, the traditional dress of Anglo Indians of Portugese descent was published in The Hindu – Kochi Metro edition. A longer version of the same appears on the Kochi post. At the suburban alleys of islet Mulavukad, the air still carries the sights and smell of Portugese legacy across the lagoons. Leisurely …
On looking good!
Lakshmi on an early morning mission to clean up the front yard at the ancestral home! “I dont look good, I’m old!”, She reacted to her first photo on the screen. “Doesn’t matter! I like old people”, I replied. Then a momentary change to shyness over her uncovered chest! Ah, wait…there emerges the confident version …
Waddling along in Kuttanad!
The story of ducks and duck farmers from Kuttanad published in The Hindu – Sunday magazine today! The write up goes here and the slideshow goes here. In Kuttanad, Kerala’s rice bowl, fields turn gold. Harvesters are abuzz, hurrying to reap the field before the summer rains strike. But as soon as the noises die …
Sketches from a night fish market!
Half of my night visits to this market had been futile! I mostly returned with dark or blur pictures, often to answer the impatient fisherlady folks that I’m trying again! They almost stopped asking me for prints and I felt dejected. But there’s something that takes you back to this night market – yes, its …
Aging Kavaya!
I always loved such Indo-Portugese names ending with D’Costa, D’Cunha, Sikkera and many more that sounded very surreal in Kerala landscape. Certain corners of Kochi fills you with such colonial surrealism – the deeper you dig one could hear stories from another time. Litanies of Lanthan batheri must be the most recent event in literature …
The not so slowly death of Kuttanad
A slightly long piece written for Kochi post. Mithrakkary, my ancestral islet village that once used to wake up to the hoots of early morning water canoes now rattles on vrooming bikes over the maze of bridges and roads. Dasan, a fish vendor on his traditional canoe often falls late these days to his counter …
Theyyathar
The photo of mundu men on the book cover by Green books. Thanks Rajesh!
Water weed’s own land
Every household closer to the canals in Kuttanad own a private step to the waterbody. There was a time this seemed a luxury to the city dweller in me. Weeds that wade the canals have never been a botheration to my eyes until a few years ago. The realization that the water below the green …
Faces behind a thousand mud pots!
Published in Kochi Post A few days before the mighty Pongala festival that falls every year during the Malayalam month of Kumbham, the host city of Trivandrum rearranges itself to accommodate all the knick knacks that comes with the festival season. Of the lot, the most visible being the red mud pots that suddenly crop …
In The Hindu
The Hindu Sunday Magazine publishes the pongala story in national edition. Here is the slide show and the text on The Hindu web edition.
City revisited!
I’m back to my city in the Southern tip of India after a significant three years far away in New York. So many things have changed. The local festival season of Pongala is a great time to roam over the bustling suburbs, to explore the recent trends of my lovely city. As I walked, I …
Pongala nights
The discovery of Pongala nights occurred very late in my rational-irreligious life after all these years in Trivandrum. But it came with some surprises that I’m beginning to enjoy these nights beyond its religiosity. All these days, women invade the public spaces with so much vigour that other wise seem extremely hostile in all our …
Before the whitewash!
Two years ago while passing through one of the northern Kerala districts, I had the first glance of a hand painted Sreenivasan. It was one of the most unexpected hand painted mollywood star finds for several reasons. Even when the integrality of Sreenivasan in Mollywood is unquestionable, a hand painted Sreenivasan on a second thought …
The Jackfruit plucker
Kanakkarayi, the rustic village man stood in the rain after his Onam duty to bring down a bountiful jackfruit from the yard. On one more photo, the happy man separated the fruit and its fibers, otherwise an arduous process.
TERI book
Another Architecture book from India published by TERI, and a few of the Baker shots published again.
Running on empty
A photo that was taken back in 2008 while traveling in Punjab that rusted in my memory got a new lease of life as Brandon Hoops of Ethno | Traveler noticed it from afar. We had a long chat about the story behind the shot and challenges for women documentary photographers in India. He has published a …
Angel wings
Angel Wings from Seema Krishnakumar on Vimeo. Finally the happy little interview with Margot Carr is up! Oh..the joy..the joy of seeing it alive after so many software mishaps!
On a crazy day..
Shot on a crazy day and edited on another crazy day! And MoMA turned this way!
A family portrait from Brazil!
Political families never intrigued me and it will ever! After all I also live in a country run by fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and uncles. Just that curiosity runs high when you reach a new country to see another family portrait flashing across election hoardings. Former governor of the state of Pará in Brazil Jader …
Ah! the crab man..
The tiny island of São João is still in slumber from the late night new year party and booze. But someone did wake up a little early, guzzled an early mug of beer and went crabbing for the new year feast. At an unexpected camera, he excitedly opened his sack of crabs and stood plain like a …
A thousand stitches…
A thousand stitches ran across the mounts and valleys of the lazy golden plateau lying under the fingers of tailor Chandran Pillai. His dull tailoring shop brightened up in soon to be departing temple frills hanging above the table. The village men behind me cheered him, ‘ah! she found the handsomest man in the village …
Beauties in stone
Tamil Nadu’s fascinating stones starting from Pudukottai, Madurai and then Myladi in Kanyakumari.
Cowbird!
Always use to wonder where my pieces of photos would fit in the larger puzzle of life or would it just remain as self expression. But finally there came Cowbird and its saga of Occupy where some of my tiny observations seemed fitting. It needs writing ~ while I lost most of my writing skills …
Architecture in India
Photographs of the Baker buildings being published in the compilation ‘Architecture in India- since 1990’.
Bodhi commons
A photo series on the beginnings of Occupy Wall Street was published in Bodhi commons. See it here.
#occupywallstreet
Sept 17, 2011 — On the very first day of Occupy Wall Street, standing with not less than a five hundred large crowd, quiet unaware of where it’s all heading to. There were no leaders, people gathered in groups and talked their mind. There were all kinds of things from corporate greed to public transport …
The Pub Manager
The Pub Manager from Seema Krishnakumar on Vimeo. A former New York police department detective, now enjoy running his family business, an Irish pub in the suburbs of the New York city.
Rainbow day!
Historic year for LGBT rights in New York, same sex marriage is legal now. The parade after the declaration was full of joy, pride and colours!
Keys to Aligarh
On a misty wintry Januray evening of 2008, I ventured out of Aligarh Muslim University to see the famous lock and key makers of the country in a drowsy jeep, which took us through the alley ways of the suburbs, vehemently horning through burqa clad crowd shopping through the local festival. I walked through the slushy lanes …
Reflections of a city!
My relation with this city is just complicated, as much as I realise I wont fit any where else in this country! The glass is just a means to see the many aspirations and reflections of the city scape itself.
Bits of Amazonia in my life!
It was a year ago, I had this amazing chance to set foot on the plains of Amazon. The city of Belem on the shores of Atlantic didn’t look much different from the old part of Goa or Kochi on the Konakan coast of India. The travel further inside the rural amazonia islands kept reminding …
The secret keeper!
I have strange issues dealing with memories of people..places..and all that surround them. They mostly dont mean anything the next moment as I catch them! They have to sit in my bubble jar for years, ferment under its warm bottle necks, peekaboo over the glass layers and finally push and knock on the cap door …
Go Egypt go…
The yellow – red clad march in the cold bitten New York city to support the Egyptian uprise in Cairo. The expressive world inside the march…
Mollywood on walls and shutters
First began shooting Mollywood’s hand painted movie stars couple of years ago for fun! But in the last one year fun turned fad, when happen to see more than 4 – 5 big hand painted hoardings being removed to be replaced by huge flex boards right in front of my eyes. First in this series …
Music under NY
Traditional Chinese instrument ‘Erhu’ being played. An accidental find of the same person from 2001. A lone musician on his Trombone.. Michael Schulman of Black violin, who plays a very interesting electric violin.. The duo Tuba players.. At a deal of one dollar, she accepted my photography offer.. and a Mouth organ player…
Music under NY!
The best thing happened to NYC perhaps is its musicians! Some are known, many are unknown..they sing in the bright and dark corners of subway stations, while trains and crowd bustle about. Genres surprisingly range from Blues to Bhajan, Classical to Techno! Whichever, they make you smile, they make you stop, they make you sway, …
Painted Malu..
Artistic rendition of Maluvamma done in Coral by artist Sathi.
It is soo long!
A beautiful mural uncovered from the dark walls below a subway bridge in Queens area during a small research! Click on it to see big!
On and off track!
Been walking pass this board for almost a month now, wondering why this crowd whether it be Wednesday or Sunday. Finally like in many cases, my body just walked in quiet unconsciously as if it cant hold the curiosity any more.. what exactly is going inside? A bunch of people clinched to a set of …
Maluvamma’s goat!
Here’s to the historic women’s bill passed in the upperhouse today! Tribute to one of my favourite characters ‘Pathumma and her goat‘ written in 1959 by Malayalam writer Basheer. “Basheer’s sister Pathumma, who lived in a dilapidated shack a little distance away, would visit the house everyday with her daughter Khadeeja and with them would …
Misha-Ho’s journey..
Its a long journey said very short! A day of many things, 31st dec 09, things were dull until I found these orphans, ‘Misha’ and the little curious ‘Ho’ on my local subway platform, wet and frozen! Not sure if I heard them calling, but they seemed happy as I lifted them up! So we …
Madhyamam
Published in Madhyamam weekly (March 22, 2010). Thank you so much Sajeesh! Two uncredited publishing, left one in ‘Development issue- Sasthragathi, Nov 2009’, right one in ‘K N Raj issue -Malayalam Varika, 26th Jan 2010’. I would continue to request ‘attribution’ wherever necessary.
A white storm!
First big snow of my life, still unaware that my fingers could freeze, feet could damp through cracked shoes! I ran out to my little empty town early morning, all that I remember is the excitement of seeing a white cover so large, thick and puffy! Took the Lilliput train to where the white cover …
One man, many walls..
If walls and shutters of Kerala could speak their mind, its undisputably this man, Mohanlal. Times are changing, flex boards are fast invading our towns to replace painted faces of our favourite movie stars. Even before you begin to enjoy their imperfections and faded tones, they’ll be gone forever. Before they do, here is an attempt to document the painted …
Beginning of ‘the end’!
Meeran Talkies is one of the several second town movie theaters that are being closed down in Kerala. Ranging from bad stories to shrinking audience to multi million salaried heroes may counted as reasons. But all that we know for real is, the reel is over! rest shall be carried to another town for re-sale.. Meeran Talkies …
May is for Mango!
Mangoes and summer vacation are inseparable! There’s a lot of joy and excitment around Mango trees wherever you find them. Girls, boys, mothers, fathers, friends, families – all of them gape and yum over this fruit. They look up, count their numbers and try all that possible to bring them down! Yes, May is for …
Copyright violation
A poster made by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committe for election campaign 09. I saw this poster once in Quilon town, but this copy came from friends in Sweden who got it through email, glad they recognised! Whoever designed it, never sought my permission even when a communication mechanism is running in flickr.
Carpedim! Chasing the clouds in Meghalaya
My dear friend and co-traveller Babitha has written a beautiful piece on our Meghalayan trip. There’s a toggle key on the right corner which will zoom the slides.
Brahmapuri blues and dots of red!
Alleyways of the blue city, Jodhpur! Its probably the oldest part of the city painted in blue with a magnificient view to Mehrangarh Fort . The area is called Brahmapuri since brahmins inhabited here traditionally. Most of the houses here have already survived some 22 generations and still counting! Here are some dots of red …
Sea side views!
Onlooking guard, perching boat, praying Jesus, rocky shores.. a relaxed day at the beach with friends!
The red-yellow bus!
Kerala transport bus aka KSRTC bus gave a hit on my scooter the other day just to remind me of their pictures I had taken earlier! Yes, the hit also triggered me to jot some of my love-hate relation with KSRTC not in any particular order. I’m sure the story is not just mine but …
Chicks and rabbits
Traveling in the Garo region of Meghalaya in 2007. Kids from Bangladesh immigrant families just gathered around to see what I’m doing with the camera! The pink Barbie girl started posing with her orange chicks, suddenly when her friend felt that’s not fair she getting all the attention. He soon appeared with his rabbit ready …
The Lighthouse book
A beautiful book compiled by Lighthouse and the Scottish Government on contemporary architecture and here goes a photograph from my CDS collection.
The ginger warehouse
At the heart of spice trade in Cochin, there runs an exclusive Ginger export house run by the Gujarathi merchants. A historical piece of building that reminds us of a prosperous era in trade! Local women workers clean, strain and dry ginger at the warehouse for a daily wage of 60 to 75 rupees – …
Automatic Langar!
Langar is the most amazing thing I have experienced in Punjab. The free food provided by the gurudwaras fed me the entire week spent in Punjab. So Punjab must be hunger free?! The pictures are from the automatic Langar kitchen of the golden temple at Amritsar. The huge automatic Roti making machine which makes thousands …
Brave hearts of Punjab
The magnificent resurgence of Punjab from terrorism!
Ancestral home
The annual pilgrimage to our ancestral home in Malabar brings back memories of a Kerala 40 years younger! But for how long?
Myopic views and amnesic memory
I cant remember the place! But in some interior temple village of Karnataka where curious old women relaxed and gossiped in their verandahs.
A boat ride
A round boat ride at the Thungabadra river near Hampi.
To the spirit of Mumbai
From Dharavi in Mumbai for a change! Women climbed ladders to reach their home, so do roosters hang out mostly above the ground!
Tribal villages!
Christmas of 2007 spent at the rustic Gond tribal villages of Adilabd in Andhrapradesh. While we wandered around Bethlehem like settings, the residents of the village were busy getting their fire wood from near by forest.
A career choice in carrying!
The story is the same all over India, they carry many things over their heads!
Gray future
Japanese website that puts an antique weathered effect on images in just one click. Before!
Tides!
Previous day evening Next day early morning This was the first time when I saw a proper high/low tide in my entire life! The water almost drained from the so called shores making it possible to walk into the breakwaters for half a kilometer. An hour later in the morning, the water returned to its original shore line!! …
My strange love for boats!
They all go for fishing…
On the banks of Simsang river!
Locally known as Simsang, the river starts from the nokrek peak in Meghalaya and falls in to Bangladesh. On the banks of Simsang near the village Siju where we spent an evening chasing stars.
German Newspaper
The Photo that appeared on the German newspaper on the right and the gift that followed, Brassai In Paris! Absolutely cool!
Gambler’s arrow
Sengchi and I searched for almost an hour to find this place in Shillong where Teer (Archery) game takes place daily. Since we missed the first daily event at 4.15pm, we decided to catch the second event at 5.15 pm. We ran across some slum areas to reach there atleast 10 minutes in advance, finally reached the venue just in time …
What the rain did to us!
Kuttanad, rice bowl of Kerala has the distinction of being one of the few places in world where farming is carried out below sea level. Summer rain wretched the full grown paddy fields causing germinated rice seeds, even before it could be harvested. Some farmers shared their grief, while others angered!
Fuming city!
On the occassion of annual Pongala festival held in the city of Trivandrum.This gathering of women with their cooking pots make a special ‘pongala offering’ to the goddess Attukalama. This festival won the world guiness award for recording the highest attendance of women, 1.5 million (15 lakhs) in 1997. Ever since the number of attendees have been on …
Beedi workers
At one of the Dinesh ‘beedi’ (Indian tobacco) co-operatives in northern Kerala. The brand ‘Dinesh beedi’ is probably one of the popular brands in the Indian beedi market! There lies the wrapper leaves which are then rolled and a pinch of tobacco is pushed at the end to finish the beedi making. Women get paid Rs 60/- per …
Faces from Meghalaya
The faces may not strike much sense to us except that they are all from Meghalaya. They represent 4 major tribes from Meghalaya Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Dravidians. They have their origins from the Tibets, East asian khmers and South asian dravidians respectively. Thay all speak different languages and dress differently.
Light and shadows in Padmanabhapuram palace
So far, this has been the toughest place to shoot indoors in natural light. Beautiful palace yet lifeless in photographs without proper light + people combination. Here’s my effort to bring both the elements together!
Thank you Travel Photographer!
The travel photographer, compiles a lot of interesting photos, workshops and exhibitions!
Fortean times
Published in Fortean times from UK, though the accompanied story sounds funny! They had send me a copy of that magazine, cant find it now.
Mystiques of Malabar
Theyyam and Padayani during the onam festival in my city. Theyyam is vigorously red while Padayani soothes you through green. Both combine dance, music, colours and believes from tribal culture which lately found a place in the main stream.
School life!
A month spent in the north – eastern state of Meghalaya during March 2007. One of the the first things I ventured was a school sports day in Tura. As I peeked through some of their school life moments!
Trumpet
As celebrations set off for Onam last year. magical light..tanned bodies..and wonderful sound.
Mail to Times of India
Dear Editor, I’m happy to see that my photo of a building by Padamashree Laurie Baker being published in you esteemed new paper, that too in editorial page. Same time it is really saddening to see that I am not attributed for the work I’ve done. It is really disappointing for an budding photographer like …
Dont embarass me!
Times of India’s editorial page on April 21st, 2007. I was really shocked at the same time happy to see this picture of mine added in the editorial tribute to one of the best architects India late Mr. Laurie Baker. The picture was published in national editorial without the photographer being intimated or credited. I came to know about …
A proper holiday
A peaceful holiday at the beautiful hill station of K.Gudi in BR hills. In the rain shadow region of the western ghats, K Gudi remained cool and serene even during summer. The early morning jungle safari in an open jeep gave a geat view of the hills and lovely sanctuary. Night hours in cottages and tents are lit …
Bresson!
An old assignment from NID in 2004, an imaginary interview with photographer Cartier Bresson!
Ahmedabad diary
My passion for photography revived on my stint with NID. These two are my favourites from the streets of Ahmedabad during the experiments in 2004. These photos always force me to re-think of black and white analogue photography. May be I should try that again!