Image Worlds: Hybridity, in partnernship with ICP, was a two-day symposium held in New Delhi, India, alongside The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts and PhotoSouthAsia, Offset Projects, Aperture, and Maze Collective, among other institutions. It was held at the India International Center, and saw participation from photographers, researchers, curators, and practitioners from around the world including India, France, USA, Nepal, UAE, and the UK.
The symposium marked the bicentennial of photography and traced its origins from the 10th century ‘qamra’ (moonlit chamber) to the myriad ways photography now permeates artistic practices, genealogies and paradigms.
Per Gylfe, Director of Education at ICP, moderated a discussion with photographer Yumna Al-Arashi, about her practice and ongoing project, Proposal for a War Memorial. Al-Arashi set up a participatory booth for attendees to provide initial sketches for the project. Gylfe and Al-Arashi discussed what it means to reflect on memory, conflict, and photography’s enduring role in shaping history.
The panels addressed critical questions at the intersection of photography research and practice, namely: How does photography bridge pre- and post-colonial narratives? How does it frame biological, linguistic, racial, and historical perspectives? What overlaps and fusions emerge between East and West through artistic practice? What new paradigms will define visual culture? Panelists particularly discussed how cross-cultural exchange has evolved, and the various ways in which the binary has been re-evaluated over time to counter Orientalist frameworks and Western-centric discourse.
At a connected event held at the British Council, Rahaab Allana, curator and publisher, The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts, offered provocations around the recent student protests in New Delhi, while bringing into focus the heightened importance of the institution, curators and artists in this political moment. Duncan Forbes, Head of the Photography, V&A Museum, talked about the growing footprint of V&A’s photo department, at the South Kensington venue and the newly opened V&A East in East London.
“It’s been a tremendous event, with enormous amounts of information through panels and artist presentations," Gylfe said. "There have been so many opportunities for networking and discussion, and we are delighted to connect with our ICP alumni and extended community in India in various ways.”
Also in attendance were Vasant Nayak, Founder, PhotoSouthAsia and the MurthyNAYAK Foundation, and ICP alumni Alina Tiphagne (Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism ‘19) Smita Sharma (Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism ‘13), and ICP Faculty Tanvi Mishra.
Facts Only
* The symposium was held in New Delhi, India.
* It was a two-day event.
* Participants included photographers, researchers, curators, and practitioners from India, France, USA, Nepal, UAE, and the UK.
* The event took place at the India International Center.
* The symposium marked the bicentennial of photography.
* A discussion occurred between Gylfe (Director of Education at ICP) and Yumna Al-Arashi (photographer).
* Al-Arashi set up a participatory booth for sketching the Proposal for a War Memorial.
* Panel discussions addressed how photography bridges pre- and post-colonial narratives, frames perspectives, and explores East/West artistic overlaps.
* One session focused on cross-cultural exchange and re-evaluating binaries against Orientalist frameworks.
* Rahaab Allana of The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts offered provocations regarding student protests.
* Duncan Forbes (Head of Photography, V&A Museum) discussed the V&A’s photo department footprint.
* Attendees included ICP alumni and faculty from PhotoSouthAsia, the MurthyNAYAK Foundation, and ICP.
Executive Summary
A two-day symposium titled Image Worlds: Hybridity, in partnership with ICP, was held in New Delhi, India. The event involved The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts and PhotoSouthAsia, Offset Projects, Aperture, and Maze Collective, among other institutions. Participants included photographers, researchers, curators, and practitioners from various nations, including India, France, the USA, Nepal, the UAE, and the UK.
The symposium marked the bicentennial of photography and explored its origins from the 10th-century 'qamra' to its current permeation of artistic practices, genealogies, and paradigms. A discussion was held between Gylfe, Director of Education at ICP, and photographer Yumna Al-Arashi concerning her practice and project, Proposal for a War Memorial, focusing on memory, conflict, and photography’s role in history.
Panel discussions examined critical questions regarding the intersection of photography research and practice, including how photography bridges pre- and post-colonial narratives, frames biological, linguistic, racial, and historical perspectives, and explores overlaps between East and West through artistic practice. The discussions also addressed the evolution of cross-cultural exchange and the re-evaluation of binaries to counter Orientalist frameworks.
Additionally, a connected event at the British Council featured Rahaab Allana from The Alkazi Foundation for The Arts, who raised provocations about student protests in New Delhi. Duncan Forbes, Head of Photography at the V&A Museum, discussed the growth of the V&A’s photo department and related venues. Attendees included alumni and faculty from ICP organizations such as PhotoSouthAsia and the MurthyNAYAK Foundation.
Full Take
The event situates photographic practice within a broad historical and critical framework, tracing visual culture not just as a technical discipline but as a site for ongoing negotiation of power, memory, and identity across geopolitical divides. The core intellectual tension revolves around the methods photography employs to mediate—or resist—established colonial and binary structures. The focus on bridging pre- and post-colonial narratives suggests an engagement with decolonization as an active visual methodology, moving beyond mere documentation toward constructing alternative historical realities.
The juxtaposition of artistic discourse (memory, conflict) with political reality (student protests) highlights the entanglement of aesthetic production with socio-political agency. The pattern of questioning established frameworks—Orientalism, Western-centric discourse—points to a persistent need within visual culture to dismantle inherited hierarchies and establish new paradigms for representation. The networking aspect, bringing together diverse global practitioners from various cultural spheres, suggests that hybridity itself is the central operative space for contemporary artistic innovation.
This event functions as a necessary locus where theoretical concerns about visual epistemology meet practical artistic engagement. The structure implies that true advancement in visual culture requires actively challenging the assumed coherence of historical and cultural binaries through creative practice rather than merely analyzing them from an external viewpoint. What remains to be explored is how these cross-cultural exchanges translate into enduring institutional or aesthetic shifts beyond the scope of the symposium itself.