MANY STORIES, ONE VOICE

Photographer Ulka Chauhan grew up in Mumbai, finished high school in Switzerland, college in Boston and lived and worked in New York and South Africa; and currently divides her time between Bombay, Goa and Zürich. These varied geographies come together to inform her work and shape her visual language.

While the terrain of her photographic practice is vast, a large body of Ulka’s images chronicles life across Bombay, Goa & Zürich. She moves with an ease between these starkly different worlds, seeing them with ‘fresh eyes’ every time she visits. Ulka uses her own voice to tell stories inspired by the diverse spaces she occupies.

With her treasured rangefinder camera in hand, “that forces one to slow down and shoot more mindfully,” Ulka takes the viewer along with her on a series of visually stunning journeys.

Time and space are bystanders in her images as she moves literally and metaphorically between these worlds.

Her style morphs fluidly with her choice of subject. With her distinct play on light, colour and composition, she brings a contemporary feel to her frames to make us look at old things in new ways.

Ulka Chauhan is the sum of all her parts; being rooted on several grounds contouring her identity and compassionate world view.

Her camera is the lens through which she sees the world, and in the process, herself.

- Samira Sheth (Art Writer & Curator)