Shovona Karmakar

It has been 12 years since I am been doing photography and I was always looking for a medium to share my work with others.

I, Shovona Karmakar, am a self-taught visual artist and commercial advertising photographer presently based out of India. I have pursued a foundation in Design and a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Vishwabharti University, India.

I was born with afro curly hair with a very dark complexion and have been a subject of extreme personal humiliation, sexual, mental harassment, and social rejection as my outlook isn't set according to the conventional standards of Indian beauty. I have lived under the myth for two decades that I am not presentable unless an accident made me realised how much I lived in darkness. It again took me years to understand how to mould myself to let not get affected by the thoughts of the people in and around me.

To prove to myself, I started a personal essay of documenting myself for one whole year aka doing a 365 self-portrait from 2010 till 2011. I relived myself, celebrated and made myself quite fulfilled to the extent I don't look out for anyone's approval.

My work is all about letting the message go to everyone that every being on this planet is set to do be treated at its best and not been devoid based on its colour, texture, gender or belief.

My colour is my identity and my hair is my crown which I wear with utmost pride which my parents have bestowed me.

I wish to celebrate everyone here and let people know that beauty has no standards and it is all about how one visualizes the other.

The art and skill of documenting myself for 12 years now have made me enough to do good to others and be more humane in my acts. The venture has let me land in the commercial market of Indian advertising and have given me enough opportunities to work with various national and international brands, agencies and publishing houses.

I sincerely wish to present my self to your audience and let them feel empowered by my work if it may. I wish to let everyone, every child believe in itself and inject hope to see though things around all over again in case light is what they are seeking.

Thank you for hearing me out.