Serena Chopra

Serena Chopra is a graduate in English literature and mass communication. She was an entrepreneur for 20 years, till in 2002 she returned to work with her twin passions – photography and journalism.

Chopra’s first body of work on Bhutan led to solo shows in New Delhi, Bhutan, and New York. A monograph of this work, Bhutan, A Certain Modernity, was published in 2007. Tasveer Gallery showed Serena Chopra’s Bhutan photographs, entitled BHUTAN ECHOES, in five major Indian cities in 2016 and 2017. A monograph of this body of work is available, published by Tasveer, and titled Bhutan Echoes. It was also part of the FOCUS photo festival, in March 2017, in Mumbai, and was exhibited as a solo show at Pundole’s Gallery in Mumbai.

In May 2015, Chopra published her book, entitled THE ANCIENTS-BHUTAN DIARIES. An excerpt from the foreword by The Queen Mother, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, reads:

Serena Chopra’s The Ancients is the outcome of her travels throughout Bhutan over a period of twelve years. Having endured the harshest conditions traversing through remotest regions of the country to meet and interact with our people, she has written with deep insight and love of the places and people she has met and developed a great affection for them. From Laya in the North to Merak Sakten in the East, from Haa in the West to Samchi in the South, Serena has left a trail of friendship and goodwil. Her accounts of the way of life in different parts of Bhutan, our ancient traditions, culture, our spiritual heritage have been beautifully and endearingly recorded with her sensitive heart and through her photographs. This is a rare and special book which takes you to the real Bhutan in a way which will want you, the reader, to embark on a journey of discovery of the Land of the Thunder Dragon, I am proud to call my country.

Chopra, very sensitively, almost invisibly without intrusion, walks her viewers into an all-encompassing portal that reflects the many manifestations of the lives of her subjects, the people and places that she is moved by. She has participated in a photo exhibition at the Bonjour India Festival (2013), showcasing the remnants of a past French heritage in Chandernagore; she has photographed Naga sadhus at the Kumbh Mela (2010) in Haridwar and during Shivratri (2013) in Varanasi.

Chopra also created Along The Ganga, the second in a series of picture notebooks, published under the banner Ageless India. She has explored and delved into the life and times, truths and realities of resident Tibetan exiles, who have made Majnu Ka Tilla their home away from home in Delhi. A solo exhibition, entitled Majnu Ka Tilla Diaries, was exhibited by sepiaEye Gallery, New York, in October & November 2016. This body of work Majnu Ka Tilla Diaries, was also exhibited during the Fotofest International Biennial Festival in Houston, in 2018.

Chopra also photographed The Tale of Time Diaries – A by-invitation project, initiated by The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, to do a body of photographs for the outdoor installation in the archways of the heritage Townhall building given over to the Partition Museum by the Indian government. The Museum opened in August 2017, on the 70th anniversary of Partition of India and Pakistan, in 1947. The work features portraits of survivors of that horrific displacement of approximately 15 million people and is a tale that must be remembered. Chopra has been working on a project in the ancient forests of India.

This bio was provided by the artist. A more comprehensive profile will be forthcoming.

Copyright © 2021, PhotoSouthAsia. All Rights Reserved.