PIX

PIX was founded in 2010 as an initiative to investigate, engage and archive broad and expansive fields of contemporary lens-based practices and creative writing, with a specific focus on India, later encompassing the wider South Asia region. Its concerns range from media evolution, regional/cultural representational specificities, and visual histories: their conceptual standing, movement, transmission, appropriation and distinct interrelationship with the allied arts. Since its inception, PIX has completed projects in India, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and Myanmar.

ASAP’s Publication division partially funded PIX’s latest publication Passages: A Subcontinental Imaginary, which is available online and in a physical format. The issue addresses the question of globalising South Asian (arts) representation by consolidating diasporic community perspectives in both written and image-based forms in order to explore the unstable politics of curating/writing regional visual histories. Drawn primarily from an open call for submissions, the image selections and commissioned texts attempt to recalibrate the politically bound arena of South Asia into creative socio-cultural formations and links. The digital issue and printed publication were launched in March 2022. 

PIX’s partnership with ASAP was centred on re-evaluating existing discourses in South Asian art. The open call for image and text submissions around experiences of diaspora resulted in PIX editing photo series and commissioning reflective texts that addressed the challenges of representation. Alongside the publication which featured 15 artists and writers, the editorial team conducted 3 conversations with artists and writers to expand upon the notion of 'location' as a key variable in practice. These discussions explored pedagogic methods around questions of identity and origins. Our research and publication was also shared online and on social media to widen viewership and participation. Following the launch of our publication in March 2022, Smriti Mehra at ASAP connected us with Camberwell University of the Arts, leading to an online talk “PIX and the South Asian Imaginary” with Global Photographies Network. These conversations helped us to engage with international communities and find affinities with others who are engaged with notions of the transnational. With our publication and programmes we were able to address emergent global shifts during a turbulent time when both migration and refugee crises have been intensified through recent political events.

Website: PIX
Passages: A Subcontinental Imaginary: PDF
Social Media: Instagram