ROHIT SAHA
About Me
Rohit Saha (born 1990, India) is a visual artist from Calcutta. His practice involves photography, illustration, and animation to narrate stories. He has been working with communities, landscapes,
and socio-political phenomena in various parts of India. Saha’s graduation project about extra-judicial killings in Manipur titled “1528” won the Alkazi Photobook Award in 2017. Saha was awarded the Magnum Foundation Social Justice Fellowship in 2018 and was a part of Joop Swart Masterclass 2020. Saha is currently based in Bombay, India
IT'S NOT A DREAM
The book "It's not a Dream reflects my stay in Bombay from 2019 to 2022.
I went through a number of personal experiences at this time, including heartbreaks, rejection letters, and unemployment, among others, which made me feel as though I was caught in an endless spiral called life. Despite the similarities, things were different in their own ways. As I found calm at the beach the moon kept an eye on me as i talked to the sea, me myself became my only company.
SOMEWHERE
In search of the Red Star.
1528
In August 2016, after a 16-year hunger strike protesting the removal of the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), civil rights activist and poet, Irom Sharmila broke her fast.
Her drive for change began in 2000, in response to the slaughter of ten people at a bus stand by the armed forces in a village called Malom. This incident came to be known as Malom Massacre.AFSPA(Armed Forces (Special Powers)Act), as it has been enforced in Manipur – often described as a ‘disturbed state’ – allows the military to execute anyone on the mere suspicion of terrorism. It has recently been claimed that there are well over 1528 people who have died in such Extra-Judicial killings carried out by the Armed Forces between 1979 and 2012. With this project, my aim was to understand the nature and scale of these fictitious clashes that are called ‘fake encounters’, keeping the landscape as a witness. By volunteering for the EEVFAM (Extra-Judicial Execution Victim Families of Manipur) – an organization formed by the widows of victims – I gained insight and gathered evidence about the situation at hand. By going through victims’ testimonies as well as witness accounts, I was able to shape my current perspective – a photo book of my personal experiences in Manipur between 2016-2018.
100 SECONDS
The virus gave me a reality check. It made me realize
how we are all connected. The screen gave me chills. Made me more vulnerable and anxious. Sitting in a room in Bombay, India, I saw similar visual patterns in the microscopic cosmos of my room and the world I live in. With this work, I wanted to make sense of the chaos that has been happening in my head due to all the collective visual imagery which keeps coming back to me, when I close my eyes.
IN SEARCH FOR THE BEST TOMATOES
It was all about living together with each other.
Story of two lovers far away from home
GREGOR'S SOLIQUY
Last days of gregor samsa