Deadline: 17 December 2025

Shared Ecologies, a program by the Shyama Foundation, invites applications from visual practitioners (artists/photographers) who situate themselves in lens-based media and respond to conditions of ecology. The Shared Ecologies Photo Grant will support a successful applicant towards the production of a new body of work.

The Shared Ecologies Photo Grant was initiated in 2022. The inaugural grant was awarded to Zishaan A Latif, to support his proposal and project ‘No Place Called Home: Climate Refugee and Citizenship’. The second grant was awarded to Aadithya S, to support his proposal on the changing landscapes of Tamil Nadu, via Sangam literature towards a poetic imaginary.

How do ecological relationships or crises become visible and where does it lie invisible, and what can lens-based media explicate about the world? How do these relationships also become a point of entanglement, with the social, cultural and political? Framing photographic practice between the made, produced, constructed, historical and found image, this grant aims to foreground experimental practices that resituate both the photograph and its lens on expanded notions of ecology.

This 18-month grant invites proposals for photographic projects grounded in research-based practice. The project shall attempt to (re)locate, reorient, reconstitute, revitalise strategies and narratives within localised or overarching conditions, using the photographic as a primary, but not necessarily only, medium. 

Submission Procedure

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

Eligibility Criteria

• The proposed project must use photography as a primary medium. Exploration of relationships to other mediums, and experimental formats are encouraged.  

• Indian citizen and permanent resident 

• Above 18 years; no age limit 

Selection Process

Through an announced jury whose decision will be final

Grant Amount

Rs. 4 Lakhs: for artist fee, research, travel and production (made available in 3 instalments) 

Grant Timeline

18 months timeline for completion of project, with grant commencing in March 2026.

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. 

Application Requirements (Access Submission Portal here)

(to be submitted in a single PDF file of up to 10 MB in size)

1. CV and Artist Bio 

2. Portfolio of completed photographic/lens-based works with captions, and other materials as appropriate: up to 3 projects (suggested: 10-15 images per project)

3. Detailed and clear Project Proposal (with 10-15 lens-based works for the applied project): up to 1500 words 

4. Proposed budget (with artist fee of up to 20%) and clear timeline for completion of project.