Arpita Shah will discuss the community collaborations that have informed her practice exploring the intersections of culture and identity. Her current exhibition Purdah – The Sacred Cloth portrays women from the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities in Scotland, who practice the tradition of head covering or veiling. Shah highlights the significance of the Purdah – the ‘sacred cloth’ – and its deeply personal meanings to the women she collaborated with as part of the project.

Sonal Kantaria will focus on her long-term collaborative engagement projects in Australia, including with the Indian diaspora and working with the Aboriginal Yamaji community in Western Australia. Kantaria’s engagement with Elders in the mid-west region of Western Australia explored landscapes of significance (pre and post colonisation) and narrative– resulting in her work After the crow flies.

Kantaria has completed artist residencies in Western Australia at Perth Institute for Contemporary Art (2015), the City of Greater Geraldton (2014) and at the Perth Centre for Photography in Australia (2013. She has worked as a visiting lecturer at the London College of Communication, the University of Westminster and the University of Hertfordshire, UK and as a visiting academic at Curtin University in Western Australia.

Arpita Shah (b. 1983, Ahmedabad, India) is a photographic artist and educator based in Scotland. She works between photography and film, exploring the intersections of culture and identity. Shah spent the earlier part of her life living between India, Ireland and the Middle East before settling in the UK (in 1992). This migratory experience is reflected in her practice, which often focuses on the notion of home, belonging and shifting cultural identities. Shah’s work tends to draw from Asian and Eastern mythology, using it both visually and conceptually to explore issues of cultural displacement in the Asian Diaspora.

Shah received her BA in Photography & Film from Napier University in Edinburgh. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Detroit Center of Contemporary Photography (2013); the Brighton Photo Biennial (2014); Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow (2014); Focus Festival in Mumbai, India (2015); Chobi Mela IX in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2017); and Travelling Gallery, Scotland (2018). She has been commissioned by Creative Scotland, and has completed artist residencies at Street Level Photoworks and Ankur Arts, amongst others.

Alongside her artist practice, Shah is also co-founder of Focàs Scotland, an initiative which supports local and international emerging photographers.