Learning

Photojournalist M Palani Kumar, in conversation with Sumaiya Mustafa, reflects on his practice, foregrounding the precarious realities of working-class communities in Tamil Nadu, India. Drawing on his work and the founding of the People’s Photographers Collective, he considers how photography amplifies marginalised voices and shapes the ways labour, dignity, and justice are seen today.

Social anthropologist and dancer-choreographer Dr Urmimala Sarkar Munsi draws from her extensive research to critically examine legendary dancer Uday Shankar’s sole cinematic experiment, Kalpana, an early articulation of modernity through dance. Situating the film within Shankar’s transnational practice, she traces how his choreography responded to the political, social, and cultural transformations of a newly independent India.