Announcing the Finalists in Our Frame of Mind Open Call
Photography offers us a glimpse into another’s consciousness, captures what is invisible to the naked eye, and helps investigate the shadows of the human mind. Along with Science Gallery Bengaluru, we put out an open call inviting young audiences to visually represent their mental landscape as they live through these unpredictable times. Take a look at a selection of the most evocative photographs to come out of our one-word prompts (Numb, Desire, Euphoria, Altered and Fragile) and see what clicks with you. Experts Jasmin Pfefferkorn and Sharabendu De shortlisted the images you see below.
Click on each photograph, then hover over it to learn more about the work in the artist’s words.
Kush Kukreja is a visual artist based in Delhi, India. His photographic practice is rooted in the ‘post-truth era’. His photographic enquiries discourse on the idea of fictionality and non-fictionality around the image, the inter-linkages within other art forms and the politics of representation. His research revolves around the idea of materiality and photography as mass culture. The use of alternative processes of image-making and histories of representation, especially in reference to the Indian subcontinent, acts as a reference point for his practices.
Isabella Suell is a student at Millsaps College studying English Literature and Anthropology. She has been published in numerous literary journals—most recently ‘In Parenthesis’—and has been a feature in Portico magazine as a writer. She has won a national silver key from scholastic for her written work, as well as keys for her photography and portfolio. Her photography is dedicated to rawness and often features a live subject. Her other passion includes anthropology and writing. Follow Isabella on Instagram here.
Ismail Odetola is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice focuses on social inclusion and inequality, diversity, technology, environment, beauty, health, peace and ecological justice. He has been featured in international exhibitions, recognized as well as published by UNESCO, OECD, FIBA, UNAOC, Blackartmatters, Artfront Galleries, the peace studio, Flea Circus, Embracing Our Differences, to name a few. He has also been shortlisted for 2018 Youmanity Award, 2019 Germany Peace prize for photography, and Siena creative photo award 2020. Global Health 50/50. He will be the artist in residency at Dogo Residence for New Art – Lichtensteig Switzerland – October and November 2022. Follow Ismail on Instagram here.
Sahana Murali completed her undergraduate studies in physical therapy at PSG College of Physiotherapy, Coimbatore. She is fascinated by the intricate workings of the brain and wanted to pursue a research career in neuroscience, especially the cognitive aspects. She attended various summer schools, where she learnt programming. She enjoys photography, sci-art, mime scripting and acting. She has written a story for a short film named Iruvala, which has won awards in intercollegiate competitions in 2019. She is now preparing to pursue a career in research. Follow Sahana on Instagram here.
Rohang Mishal is a 23-year-old artist currently based out of Bangalore who traces his roots to Goa and his Goan identity. His work lies at the intersections of Transgenerational Trauma, Identity, Gender and Mental health. Story-telling, narrativising and critically analysing the world in the form of illustrative zines, comics and photo essays is central to Rohang’s artistic expression. His photographic submission was also featured by Instagram in 2018 as a part of their #WHPBlackandWhite Challenge. Currently, he finds his home working in the social impact space in the day and continually evolving his art practice by night. Follow Rohang on Instagram here.
Da Won Lee is a masters student in Marketing Communications at the University of Melbourne. Having been interested in photography since childhood, she was fascinated by the analogue texture and warmth of a film camera and started shooting with it in 2018. Taking photos allows her to travel often and is the direct reflection of the places and stories that inspire her. More of her film photos can be found on her Instagram dedicated to film photography. Follow her on Instagram here.
Michelle Clark is PhD student studying infectious diseases and cell death at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the University of Melbourne. Her mother was a hobby photographer and now takes all her images with her mother’s camera. She is fascinated with emotions and feels we often don’t know what we look like when we are furious, inconsolable, or agitated, only recognising these emotions through others. By turning the camera on herself when she is overcome with emotion, Michelle tries to capture how others truly see her in hopes of better understanding herself. Follow Michelle on Instagram here.
Michael Doyle is a Secondary School student studying Visual Arts. A lot of his life right now revolves around school life and managing work. Michael travels quite far to get to school every day but loves being in Melbourne and exploring his artistic practice in the city. Follow Michael on Instagram here.
Himanshi Parmar works independently in the space of research, brand design, and brand strategy for impact organisations. Her work is a cross pollination of multiple disciplines and mediums in the global landscape. Themes that she engages with reside in the space of mental health, education, conservation, sustainability, buddhism, neuroscience, and music. She has been associated with the University of Amsterdam, University of Chicago, and LOVA international. She strives to create a transdisciplinary method of approaching concepts to bring back a childlike sense of wonder. Using the same principles, she is currently working on curriculum design. Follow Himanshi on Instagram here.
liactuallee is an interdisciplinary emerging artist, who graduated from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors in 2016, and received a postgraduate diploma in Aesthetics, Criticism, and Theory from Jnanapravaha, Mumbai. li recently attended the BeFanastic Fellowship, a global collaborative space bridging interdisciplinary practices, TechArt and climate change, where they led a project titled Earthling Meditations. li’s work deals with interconnections of contemporary discourses of gender, race and cultural displacement; and more pressingly ecology, and the ongoing climate crisis. Follow Ii on Instagram here.
Meet the Frame of Mind Mentors
Jasmin Pfefferkorn is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and subject coordinator at the School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne. Her research spans museum studies, cultural studies, digital humanities and visual communication. She is currently working on the ARC project Digital Photography: mediation, memory and visual communication, which explores everyday photographic practice in the digital era. She has published in the Journal of Intercultural Studies and the Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, written for Arena online, and contributed book chapters in edited collections for Art, Museums and Digital Cultures – Rethinking Change and Communicative Cities and Urban Space. Her forthcoming monograph, Museums as Assemblage, is an examination of emergent museum practice. Jasmin is an Executive Board Member of the Research Unit in Public Cultures, and part of the Steering Committee for the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics’ Art, AI and Digital Ethics research stream.
Sharbendu De is a lens-based artist, academic and a writer. He is the 2022 Visiting Artist Fellow at Harvard University. In 2018, Feature Shoot recognised De as an Emerging Photographer of the Year. De received grants from the India Foundation for the Arts (2017), Lucie Foundation (2018), Prince Claus Fund & ASEF (2019), MurthyNAYAK Foundation (2021) and KHOJ (2021). He was shortlisted for the Lensculture Visual Storytelling Awards (2019) and Lucie Foundation’s Emerging Artist of the Year Scholarship (2018) among other nominations.
His latest conceptual series An Elegy for Ecology (2016-21) dealing with the subject of climate change and human position in the anthropocene, premiered at Phantasmopolis at the Asian Art Biennale 2021, Taiwan, and in India at his first solo at the SHRINE EMPIRE Gallery, New Delhi (2021-22). His former conceptual series Imagined Homeland (2013-19) on the indigenous Lisu tribe from Arunachal Pradesh has received critical appreciation including Between Grief and Nothing (2015-16).