London-based photographer Keerthana Kunnath typically makes use of the time period artwork when referring to her photographs coping with nuanced themes, akin to gender, sexuality, womanhood and psychological well being. Originally from Beypore in Kozhikode, Kerala, the 29-year-old shutterbug goals to spark conversations about themes that “people often shy away from”.
Her final picture sequence, Not What You Saw, portrays South Indian girls bodybuilders flexing their muscle mass garbed in conventional Kerala apparel, like a kasavu mundu (handloom garment with zari border) wrapped round their waist and thighs or a checkered cloth skirt impressed by fisherwomen. These images query outdated magnificence requirements and gender stereotypes.
Stills from photo-series Not What You Saw
| Photo Credit:
Keerthana Kunnath
The sequence has earned Keerthana, The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain’s International Photography Exhibition Awards in the Under 30s class in February, 2025. “I wanted to portray these girls as confident. They are not just challenging the ideals of beauty, but they also dare to go to these competitions wearing bikinis and pose in front of so many people,” says Keerthana over a telephone name from Mumbai.
“I was researching on kalaripayattu (martial art from Kerala), when I stumbled upon this group of body-builder girls,” says Keerthana who began working on this sequence in early 2024. “Everyone had seen body builders in typical gym clothes but they haven’t seen an Indian body builder in clothes which are inspired from our culture . My friend Elton John, a Thiruvananthapuram-based stylist and I, didn’t want to make it just the saree, we wanted something fun and fashionable with some cultural inspiration in mind.”
Keerthana shot the fashions utilizing an previous analogue medium format digicam, Mamiya 67, at places unfold throughout totally different components of Kerala and Karnataka. She says, “I just decided to do this as a personal project. I didn’t even share it with an editor for around six months after shooting it. Last summer I shot a few more pictures and I am still working on this series. I never had an end goal in mind.”
Stills from ‘Not What You Saw’, photo-series.
| Photo Credit:
Keerthana Kunnath
Additionally, Keerthana’s works have been just lately featured in the British rom-com Picture This, launched in March 2025, as these shot by the protagonist Pia (performed by Simone Ashley). “They wanted to use my archives and also shoot the images the character was shooting which would go in the film,” says Keerthana, who was approached by the makers of the movie after they stumbled upon her Instagram profile.
Simone Ashley from Picture This.
| Photo Credit:
Keerthana Kunnath
Also learn | ‘Picture This’ film evaluation: Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin fail to make this romantic comedy work
Origin story
The photographer labored as a jewelry designer for just a few months after graduating in Fashion and Lifestyle Accessory Design from the National Insititute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Bengaluru in 2017. She was additionally the inventive head of a jewelry model in New Delhi for nearly 4 years. That was the place she found her ardour for pictures in 2017. “I was having a full-time job and was freelancing. But back then I wanted to be a fashion photographer, and came across this Master’s course in London,” says Keerthana, who studied Fashion Photography at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts from 2020 to 2021.
Finding her means
One of her first picture sequence — a venture for her Masters, The Kaleidoscopic Self, exploring the duality of people and gods, in the context of faith and id, earned her the International Photography Award by the British Photography Journal in 2022.
A nonetheless from The Kaleidoscopic Self by Keerthana Kunnath
| Photo Credit:
Keerthana Kunnath
Following her post-graduation, she landed her first project with Nike. “It was a big confidence boost for me as well as for my family, seeing how my work could do as a campaign as well.”
Still’s from Keerthana’s Nike marketing campaign
| Photo Credit:
Keerthana Kunnath
Beyond taboos
Gradually, Keerthana’s mother and father may fathom the sort of conversations she was attempting to begin. “They got an idea of the work I was trying to do, even with themes like gender and sexuality and how society is regressive and not open to those who are different,” she says.
“Growing up, I didn’t know what being queer meant. When I studied at NIFT, I had gay friends. I realised that it’s a huge spectrum of people and a way of being. It’s a completely different idea than what I had and it was not because they didn’t exist in our society, but because we weren’t exposed to them,” says Keerthana.
“When I went to London, I had lesbian friends who were married and had kids together. That was a different experience for me, to see how normal it is, especially with people avoiding those conversations in India,” says she. Her duo exhibition with artist Elliott Nicole J Waller, Eyedentity, in Osnabrück, Germany in 2024, explored the “artistic presentation of queer identities”.
‘Eyedentity’, a duo exhibition by Keerthana with artist Elliott Nicole J Waller in Osnabrück, Germany, final yr
| Photo Credit:
Evelyn Leis
Mental well being is a recurring theme in Keerthana’s artworks. She says, “I am someone who struggles with mental health. It was taboo to say it out loud.” In London, she began regarding the works of her contemporaries, figuring out with their internal turmoil. She discovered it essential to deal with these points by way of her work. “It was such an unlearning experience,” says the photographer.
While an image is perhaps open to totally different interpretations, folks typically attain out to Keerthana saying that they comprehend what her photographs are conveying and categorical their pleasure over her revealing it, she says. “As an artist or a photographer, you don’t know what the other person gauges from your work. But at least you try and explore things.”
Keerthana’s award-winning photographs are at the moment on show at the Fujifilm House of Photography, London until April 3. They additionally might be showcased at the Saatchi Gallery in London as a part of the Royal Photographic Society International Photographic Exhibition from August 5 to September 16.
Published – March 20, 2025 04:34 pm IST
