About the Grant

Shared Ecologies, a program by the Shyama Foundation, invites applications from photographers responding to ecological conditions. The year-long Shared Ecologies Photo Grant will support a successful applicant towards the completion of an ongoing project or for the production of a new body of work. The grant will also facilitate interactions or feedback sessions with mentor(s) as required by the project during the grant period. Please read more about the scope of the grant below. 

The term ‘ecology’ can now be read in an expanded field with pedagogical, historical, cultural and social underpinnings. The increasing depletion of biodiversity and forest cover, rising pollution and environmental toxicity, governmental and private encroachment over indigenous land, displacement of communities and exploitation of natural resources has become a structural condition of our times. Natural science tells us that earth system boundaries are being transgressed drastically in terms of species loss or climate change, and where older top-down approaches are failing to generate a sustained effort.

In such times, the idea of the ‘local,’ can be thought of as one which contains the ‘planetary,’ and vice versa. It  leads to viewpoints of heterogeneous ecological touchpoints, which are entangled with a variety of conditions. Visualising the idea of nature afresh as a means of resurgence can be a way forward.  As termed by the American anthropologist Anna L Tsing, resurgence is a process of regeneration and renewal after (ecological) destruction. Tsing uses the example of regrowth after a forest fire, a process undertaken by many organisms in negotiative, hyperlocal multispecies networks. 

This Shared Ecologies grant invites proposals for photography projects grounded in research-based practices, and which attempt to (re)locate, reorient, reconstitute, revitalise strategies and narratives within localised or overarching conditions, using photography  as a primary, but not necessarily only, medium. 

Experimental approaches are also welcome.

Keywords for reference: Lens, camera, image, vision, environment, ecology, nature, sight, conservation, staging, climate, clime, Anthropocene, picture, biodiversity, pollution, diverse, heterogenous, contamination, footprint, natural landscape, crisis, seed, extraction, terrain, sustainability, regeneration, compost, endangered, strata, harvest, resurgence, cultivation, foraging, forest, field etc.

Submission Procedure

Completed application form and PDF including all necessary material to be uploaded via Google Form available at sharedecologies.org.

Eligibility Criteria

The proposed project must use photography as a primary medium 

Indian citizen and permanent resident 

Above 18 years; no age limit 

Selection Process

Through an internally selected jury, whose decision will be final

Grant Amount

Rs. 3.5 Lakhs: for artist fee, research, travel and production (made available in 3 instalments) 

Grant Timeline

One year timeline for completion of project, with grant commencing in March 2023.

Grant Ambit

The Grant will attempt to support the successful applicant in research, as required, of the outlined project/body of work, along with mentorship. Please note that the grant amount cannot be used towards the purchase of equipment including cameras, tripods, laptops, printers etc. 

The grant will facilitate interactions or feedback sessions with mentor(s) as required by the project, separate to the provided budget. 

Grant Output

Successful completion of project

Public presentation (online or offline) of research and work 

Online publication of body of work on Shared Ecologies Website, and other possible exhibitory/ publication forms dependent on development of the proposed project. 

Application Requirements 

(to be submitted in a single PDF file of up to 15 MB in size)

1. CV and Artist Bio 

2. Portfolio of ongoing or older photography works with captions, and other materials as appropriate: 15-30 images

3. Detailed and clear Project Proposal (with reference/ documentation images, if available for an ongoing project): up to 1500 words 

4. Statement of intent around applicant’s ecological practice/engagement with questions of ecology: up to 300 words

5. Proposed budget (with maximum artist fee of up to 20%, if to be claimed) and clear timeline for completion of project.