Collaborating with SACAC

In 2018, the MurthyNAYAK Foundation (MNF), formed a relationship with the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication (SACAC) for the first annual Social Documentary Photography Award. That partnership proved to be successful and productive, and led us to create other projects for collaboration. During the remainder of 2018, and into 2019, MNF and SACAC embarked on several endeavors.

1. Mentorship to the 2018 Grant Recipient: Subhrajit Sen, not yet 25 years of age, was selected by the jury as the first winner of this annual grant, given by the MurthyNAYAK Foundation through SACAC. In addition to the award money to complete his documentary project on the human cost of uranium mining in Jharkhand, this award winner also met with a mentor at SACAC for one year, to receive feedback on his work and answer questions.

2. Mentorship of SACAC Photography Alumni: Although students who complete the program at SACAC have a documentary sensibility, they often end up doing commercial work to support themselves financially. This mentorship provides support, encouraging them to continue their social documentary projects and helping them to apply for grants, write grant proposals, find freelance opportunities, and maintain a connection to a supportive community.

3. Annual Scholarship for an Underprivileged Applicant: It is hoped that this need-based scholarship will lead to a profession or career that otherwise would have been out of reach for these students. Admission is based on the applicant’s aptitude to grasp the concepts and ability to advance through the program.

4. Alumni Selection for Documentation Project: For twenty years, Indian farmers have been in crisis, but their protests have not been well covered. In June 2018, about 40,000 subsistence farmers and landless peasants marched in solidarity to Mumbai, but the sympathetic response from the city’s working class demanded the corporately-owned news outlets scramble to cover the event. National Crime Records Bureau records reveal that more than 300,000 farmers in rural India committed suicide between 1995 and 2015. Getting their story in front of India’s people – the voting public – is critical. SACAC alumni were selected to follow marchers and document their 2018 protest when farmers marched to Delhi.

5. Annual International Photography Workshop: MNF supports this annual event at SACAC, bringing photographers to India for informational and cultural exchange. It introduces foreign photographers to the Indian photographic aesthetic, as well as offering Indian photographers exposure to foreigners, their techniques, styles, and the choices they make in their photography.

We are very excited about these projects with SACAC, and believe that they can benefit photography in the area of social documentary in India. It is our goal that, in doing so, the plight of the disenfranchised will be seen and better understood by India’s rising middle class.

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