I did not go to an art institute to learn photography or to a college to study conservation. I learnt by making, from several mentors – photographers from Mangalore to New York, by observing life.  I learnt from life, reading, people I photographed and interacted. Since I started teaching – in the last ten years, I have been learning every day from my students.

40 years of photography, 20 years of conservation, 10 years of teaching

Politics, Society, Ecology, Culture

“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy” – Bell Hooks
I have now spent ten years as an educator in higher education. I dropped out of formal education after completing 12th standard and spending two and a half excruciating and mind numbing years trying to pursue an undergraduate degree in science. It was 1986.  I did not even dream that I would be an educator. However, the practice of teaching ran in the family. My paternal and maternal grandfathers were educators, so was my father, who taught law.

I became an educator a decade ago, and being in the classroom with the students over this time has been exhilarating. When I say classroom, I mean not just within the four walls but includes and is not limited to rainforests, grasslands, rivers, water bodies, museums, cities, villages, etc. “So, what do you teach?” is the question I hear often. “Do you teach students how to take pictures?” (sic) people ask. The answer is that I facilitate learning/teach aspiring designers and a few aspiring filmmakers and visual artists. So, I don’t even use photography as a lens often. Then what do I teach? As I progressed in my teaching career, it became clear to me that to be an effective designer or a good artist, one needs to learn to see our world clearly, cutting through the clutter and through multiple lenses.

To see clearly, one needs to look with intent. That’s what I do in my classes, to help my students see; in the process, I learn to see better.

Designers* can help change the world; change makers are, by default, good designers. As the editors of the book Design for Social Innovation, Case Studies from Around the World say, “The purpose of design for social innovation is not to make things, but to facilitate social change, so designers must carefully and deliberately connect intention with outputs”. Likewise, educators are change makers, and we must connect our intentions with outputs.

Design is no longer an expert-driven process focused on objects and services; it is an open ended, socially oriented practice that challenges the status quo. We must move beyond consumerism and prioritize environmentally responsible solutions for the greater good. The educational system has a moral obligation to produce “new world makers.” Rather than perpetuating a culture of overconsumption, we must strive to nurture individuals who can reimagine our world for the better. We must continually ask ourselves whether our institutions are contributing to this transformation.

My work as a photographer and environmental activist resides at the crossroads of society, community, culture, environment, and politics. It is the bedrock of my teaching. Educators are not just purveyors of knowledge; we are catalysts for innovation. I strive to inspire, challenge, and empower the next generation of designers and artists and equip them with the capability to see through the complexities of our world, forging a path toward a deeper understanding of our shared human experience.

My teaching style aligns very well with the thoughts expressed by Douglas Hofstadter, College of Arts and Sciences Professor of Cognitive Science at Indiana University, in his book, I Am A Strange Loop: “One of my firmest conclusions is that we always think by seeking and drawing parallels to things we know from our past and that we therefore communicate best when we exploit examples, analogies, and metaphors galore, when we avoid abstract generalities, when we use very down to earth, concrete, and simple language, and when we talk directly about our own experiences.”

My interests and work encompass a wide gamut of subjects. At Srishti, I have been leading the admissions outreach and communications since 2021.
To know more about my creative practice – please visit my website