The Artists

Here are the six artists that were part of the Vision for Empowerment Workshop 2015. Read their bios and see some of the images and portraits they made. This is a look into the street life of Kolkata—from the lens of six Bengali women.

Read more about the class here.

Shampa was born and brought up in Muraripukur, Kolkata. She is a high school graduate of Banipith Girls School. She is a private tutor and wants to pursue Bengali Honors. Shampa in her free time listens to Bollywood Music and loves taking photos of patterns (both man-made and natural).

Photographs by Shampa: 

Priyanka is from Kalighat and lives at home with her family. She is in Standard 10 at UCNI Mission School. She likes photography because she sees it as an art to capture special moments in her surroundings. She will study English and work towards becoming a professional photographer in her future.

Photographs by Priyanka:

Zainab was born and brought up in Tangra, Kolkata. She is studying in Standard 11 at Bhootnath Institution and wants to pursue journalism. She likes taking photographs of flowers and nature. She also loves black and white images. 

Photographs by Zainab:

Saba is from Tangra, Kolkata and a graduate of MD. Jan High School. She wants to pursue medical school for gynaecology because there are not many women in the field. She is currently prepping for the exam but worries about the financial burden of medical school. Saba has enjoyed photography since she was a child, after looking through magazines and hoping to someday capture stories of people’s lives. Saba is a private tutor and when she’s not teaching, she is reading magazines such as National Geographic.

Photographs by Saba:

Piyali was born in Kolkata, but now resides at Bisharpara Kodalia. She is a high school graduate from Narkeldanga Deshabandhu. She always wanted to get behind the lens because she has only seen male photographers and believes women should have the opportunity. Next year she plans to pursue journalism in postgraduate school. Piyali also likes cooking and watching horror movies.

Photographs by Piyali:

Alpana grew up in Manicktala, Kolkata. She is a high school graduate from Banipith Girls School. Since she was a child she wanted to take street photographs but she couldn’t because of financial problems. In 1999, she started working at the Naba Disha Center teaching street kids. She hopes to get into professional photography and also teach photography at the center.

Photographs by Alpana:

Please share the work of the artists and this project.