Sohrab Hura (born 17 October 1981) is an Indian photographer based in New Delhi. He is a full member of

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

. Hura's self-published trilogy ''Sweet Life'' comprises the books ''Life is Elsewhere'' (2015), ''A Proposition for Departure'' (2017) and ''Look It's Getting Sunny Outside!!!'' (2018); the latter was shortlisted for Photobook of the Year in the

Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards is a yearly photography book award that is given jointly by Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation. It is announced at the Paris Photo fair and was established in 2012. The categories are First P ...

. He has also self-published ''The Coast'' (2019) and ''The Levee'' (2020). His work has been shown in solo exhibitions in London and in Kolkata, India.

Life and work

Hura was born in

Chinsurah Hugli-Chuchura or Hooghly-Chinsurah is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the bank of Hooghly River, 35 km north of Kolkata. It is located in the ...

, West Bengal. He attended

The Doon School The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a selective all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer from Calcutta, who prevised a school mode ...

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

, Uttarakhand and has a masters in economics from the

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...

. He began making photographs during college with a

Nikon FM10 The Nikon FM10 is a manual focus 35 mm film camera sold by Nikon Corporation. It is of SLR design and was first available in 1995. It is normally sold in a kit that includes a Zoom Nikkor 35–70 mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens, although a Zoom Nik ...

given to him by his father. He is now based in New Delhi, India. Hura's ''Sweet Life'' trilogy of books focuses on his relationship with his mother, who was diagnosed with

paranoid schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. ...

in 1999, when he was 17 years old. The trilogy's ''Life Is Elsewhere'' was made between 2005 and 2011, and ''Look It's Getting Sunny Outside!!!'' was made between 2008 and 2014. In 2011 the ''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

'' included Hura in its Ones to Watch. He became a nominee member of

in 2014 (the second Indian photographer to become a nominee member) an Associate member in 2018, and a full member in 2020.

Sean O'Hagan Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and f ...

, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

,'' included Hura's ''The Lost Head and the Bird'' exhibition in his "The top 10 photography exhibitions of 2017".

Publications

*''Life is Elsewhere.'' New Delhi: self-published (Ugly Dog), 2015. . Edition of 600 copies. *''A Proposition For Departure.'' New Delhi: self-published (Ugly Dog), 2017. Includes "8 Sound Extraction charts, 1 Music Chart for the three movement sound piece". Edition of 600 copies. *''Look It's Getting Sunny Outside!!!.'' New Delhi: self-published (Ugly Dog), 2018. . Includes a hand written text by Hura's mother. Edition of 600 copies. *''The Coast: Twelve Parallel Short Stories.'' New Delhi: self-published (Ugly Dog), 2019. Edition of 1200 copies. *''The Levee.'' New Delhi: self-published (Ugly Dog), 2020. Edition of 600 copies.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*''Destination Tsunami: Stories and Struggles from India's Southern Coast,'' ''The Guardian'' Gallery,

Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of ''The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the for ...

, London, 2010. *''Sweet Life,'' Experimenter Gallery, Kolkata, India, 2017.

Group exhibitions and during festivals

*''Life is Elsewhere,'' Angkor Photo, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2014. *Milk Gallery, New York City, 2016. Photographs by Hura and Matt Black,

Carolyn Drake Carolyn Drake (born 1971) is an American photographer based in Vallejo, California. She works on long term photo-based projects seeking to interrogate dominant historical narratives and imagine alternatives to them. Her work explores community an ...

, Lorenzo Meloni,

Max Pinckers Max Pinckers (1988) is a Belgian photographer based in Brussels. He has self-published the books ''The Fourth Wall'' (2012); ''Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty'' (2014), which won a Photographic Museum of Humanity grant); and ''R ...

, and

Newsha Tavakolian Newsha Tavakolian ( fa, نیوشا توکلیان; born 1981) is an Iranian photojournalist and documentary photographer. She has worked for ''Time'' magazine, ''The New York Times'', ''Le Figaro'', and ''National Geographic''. Her work focuses o ...

. *''The Lost Head and the Bird,'' The Nines, Peckham 24, London, 2017. Video installation. *''India: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art,'' Fotofest 2018 Biennial, Houston, 2018. *

Format International Photography Festival Format International Photography Festival (stylised as FORMAT) is a biennial photography festival held in Derby, UK. It takes place in March in various venues in Derby including Quad, University of Derby, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derwent Va ...

, Derby, UK, 2017.

Awards

*2018: Shortlisted, Photobook of the Year,

for ''Look It's Getting Sunny Outside!!!''

References

External links

*
The Lost Head and the Bird: A short story from the ongoing work, 'The Coast', by Magnum photographer Sohrab Hura.
''Vice''
Two Photographers Tell Dramatic Stories Through Often Overlooked Details: Photographers Prasiit Sthapit and Sohrab Hura share their work in our annual photo issue.
''Vice'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hura, Sohrab 1981 births Bengali Hindus 21st-century Bengalis Living people People from Hooghly district The Doon School alumni Delhi University alumni Indian photographers Magnum photographers Photographers from West Bengal