Thank you for your application for the South Asia Incubator 1. We received a total of 88 applications for 10 spots and had a VERY DIFFICULT TIME making a selection. After careful consideration by our team of curators, we are happy to announce that we will be welcoming the following practitioners from around South Asia this year:

Bunu Dhungana (Nepal)
Sadia Marium (Bangladesh)
Shwe Wutt Hmon (Myanmar)
Aishwarya Arumbakkam (India)
Jaisingh Nageswaran (India)
Madiha Aijaz (Pakistan)
Karthik Subramanian (India)
Hadi Uddin (Bangladesh)
Krupa Desai (India)
Sagar Chhetri (Nepal)

Congratulations!

Photo Kathmandu calls for applications for a new program South Asia Incubator 1 which is open to emerging photographers, and artists, writers, researchers, curators working with photography. The program is open to anyone from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, and Bhutan.

Networking can be a daunting exercise at festivals, and sometimes limited to exchanging hellos and business cards; portfolio reviews can feel too rushed and formal; and young practitioners in the region tend to have limited access to grants, publishing and exhibition opportunities and facetime with professionals who can support and help to open doors. By creating a dedicated platform to connect young practitioners with industry experts, Photo Kathmandu hopes to help them further their practices.

South Asia Incubator 1 creates a space for exchange and engagement between a group of 10 young South Asian practitioners and 6 mentors from around the world. Over 4 days, the group will share work and discuss practices, receive critical feedback from mentors, and ideate potential collaborations for the future. For the mentors, this platform is an exciting opportunity to meet young practitioners from the region and discover new work that they then can engage with and promote in other regional and international fora.

PROGRAM DETAILS

  • Participants should be of South Asian origin, living and working in South Asia.
  • The program is designed for young practitioners with minimum 3-5 years of experience.
  • There are a maximum of 10 seats for the program this year.
  • Participants will be asked to bring minimum one, maximum 3 projects to share and discuss as prints as well as digital presentations.
  • Participants will be provided local accommodation (on sharing basis), a daily stipend for meals for 5 nights and 5 days.
  • Participants will be responsible for arranging travel to and from Kathmandu on their own.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

  • 25th Oct Arrive in Kathmandu
  • 26th Oct – Day 1: Group breakfast + introductions + mentors + participants present work (full day)
  • 27th Oct – Day 2: Participants continue to present work (half day)
  • 28th Oct – Day 3: One-on-one + group meetings (half day)
  • 29th Oct – Day 4: One-one-one + group meetings + wrap up (half day)

*Although this program ends on 29th Oct, participants are welcome to extend their stays at their own cost. The festival’s main programming week closes on Nov 1st.

MENTORS

The mentors for the South Asia Incubator 1 include photo practitioners, curators, program managers, editors, publishers who are looking to meet new talent in South Asia. They will work with participants to give feedback, discuss challenges and function as sounding boards for new ideas. It is our hope that mentors will keep in touch with participants beyond this program, and help to promote their work, invite or point them towards grants, residencies, exhibitions, publications and other tangible projects to collaborate on in the future.

  • Sohrab Hura, Photographer, Magnum Photos
  • Rachael Strecher, Director, Media Innovation, National Geographic
  • Radha Mahendru, Curator and Program Manager, KHOJ International Artists’ Association, Delhi
  • Valentina Abenavoli, Editor and Publisher, AKINA Books
  • Qu Chang from Para Site, Hong Kong
  • Sadaf Raza from Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council

By applying for the Incubator, we expect you to agree to the festival’s code of conduct.