Abul Kalam Azad

I am a visual artist based in South India. My works are largely expressions of my personal memories, explorations and experiences. They deal with issues of culture, identity, ethics, micro/macro history, and eroticism. I am particularly interested in experimental and art photography.

It was my father, Haneef Rahman, who instilled my interest in photography at a very young age. A majority of my photographs from the 80s and early 90s were from my native land of Kerala, India. Creating visuals of the familiar people and surroundings fascinated me. I started photographing my friends and creative people from the neighborhood, my town, and its architecture. These photographs offer a glimpse into the landscape of Mattanchery before it became a cultural hub and venue of Kochi Muziris Biennale. In the 80s, I started exploring different parts of India. Like a restless river, I was always on the move - seeking a distant destination and photographing the memories of those long journeys. During the early 90s, for over a brief period, I worked as a photo-journalist with news agencies and periodicals in India and abroad, During the mid-90s, with the support of different scholarships, I traveled to Europe for higher studies in photography and ...

I started my photographic journey as a self-taught photographers. Later on, with the support of French and British Scholarships, I did MA in Photography and Print-making.

2019 Men of Pukar, BIC and RMZ Foundation, Bangalore, India
2019 Linking Lineages, Draavidia Gallery, Fort Cochin, Kerala
2018 Elements and Fragments - Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata
2017 Men of Pukar, Poompukar, Tamil Nadu
2017 50:50 Photography - Birla Academy, Kolkata
2015 Contemporary Heroines - Silappathikaram Festival, Kerala
2013 Solo show in United Art Fair, New Delhi
2013 Thekkan Kaatu (Southern Wind) - Birla Academy, Calcutta
2013 Merging/Submerging, Artkonsult - New Delhi
2013 HAIL show - MNF Museum, Cochin
2013 Visual evidence - Focus Photography, Mumbai
2013 Beatles in Rishikesh - Apparao Galleries, New Delhi
2012 Mind the gap - United Art Fair, New Delhi
2011 Red room - Ragini art gallery, Delhi
2011 Photos of the gods - LIFE IN ART, Switcherland
2011 Lens-ing it - Ashna Gallery, Delhi
2010 Where three dreams cross - Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switcherland and White Chapel Gallery, London
2009 India Art Summit - New Delhi
2009 Arco Festival - Madrid, Spain
2008 Crossovers & Overlaps - Apparao Galleries, Triveni Garden Theatre, New Delhi
2008 Animals - Ishka art Gallery, Cochin
2007 The whirlpool of fate - The visual art gallery, Habitat Centre, Delhi
2007 Making histor...