Snaps and stories

With World Photography Day approaching, NT NETWORK speaks to Goa-based
photographers who have portrayed the state through photobooks

CHRISTINE MACHADO | NT NETWORK

Anish Nogar Araujo once enjoyed browsing photography projects online but discovering the photobook ‘Across the Ravaged Land’ by Nick Brandt changed everything for him. “The way I take in a photograph has become more impactful; it carries more meaning,” says the photographer, who is now working on his own photobook, ‘No More Darkness, No More Night’. Having begun this project in 2018, it combines photographs and poems to convey his connection to the community he grew up in, with Goa as his canvas.

Beyond digital dust

Interestingly, Araujo did not enjoy books as a child but photobooks have given him a newfound love for reading and visual storytelling. “It’s a fun and easy way to express your feelings and emotions,” he says, adding that many youngsters are tired of viewing photographs on screens and long to hold something physical.

Shivam Harmalkar shares this view. “I grew up seeing photographs in albums, physical, tactile, intimate. Digital images, in contrast, feel like ‘digital dust’ until they’re printed,” says the filmmaker and photographer. This belief led him to publish ‘Dashavatari Nights’, a photobook with 72 images shot between 2018 and 2023, capturing the folk theatre tradition of Dashavatari in north Goa and nearby villages. It documents both the vibrancy of performances and the quieter, in-between moments. “The book is my way of ensuring these voices and images travel beyond the villages, into the hands and hearts of a wider audience. I always knew ‘Dashavatari Nights’ was meant for print; it’s a story to be held,” says Harmalkar.

A portable exhibition

While the book is part of his travelling exhibition ‘Dashavatari Trunk’, Harmalkar says the photobook has its own grammar, rhythm and surprises. “Exhibitions are immersive and digital archives are accessible, but a book offers intimacy. Its tactile nature creates a personal connection between the artist and viewer that no screen can replicate,” he says. “It is also democratic. A book can travel in a backpack, reach places a gallery might never go and remain as a lasting artefact.”

He plans to publish more photobooks, seeing them as a space to experiment, a portable exhibition that evolves in people’s hands, not just on gallery walls. Ulka Chauhan agrees. The photographer who published ‘The Memory Keepers & Future Seekers’, a visual and literary exploration of Goa’s centuries-old homes (art writer and curator Samira Sheth provided the text), shares that she had exhibited some of the works from the book at HOSA in Siolim. “But in an exhibition you’re limited by the space that you’re showing at, whereas the book gives the opportunity to tell a deeper story in a way that is meaningful,” she says. An exhibition is also on for a limited period and reaches a limited audience, she states, where viewers read at most the curatorial note. “In contrast, a photobook can be consumed by the reader at their own time and pace in the intimate sphere of their own homes,” she says.

Moira-based photographer David De Souza, who has created 28 photobooks (including ‘The Jesuits, Goa and the Arts’, ‘Moira Diversity, Goa ExtraOrdinary’ and a small book on the Arambol jungle dance), values their physical nature. “The great thing about photobooks is the sense of ownership. A gallery has its own prestige but books have a different kind of worth. Their tactile quality makes them precious,” he says, while emphasising that both are different and one does not preclude the other.

Emotions on page

Photobooks can also reach a wider audience, says photographer Assavri Kulkarni, who published ‘Markets of Goa’ in 2015, documenting 64 unique markets in the state. “At an exhibition, you sell pieces to one person. With a book, many can own your work,” she says, adding that photobooks also connect with readers on a deeper emotional level.

This emotional connect is something that Chauhan can attest to. “When we launched ‘The Memory Keepers & Future Seekers’, at Festa de Goa in Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, many of the audience were Mumbai Goans, some  of whom have never actually lived in Goa, who later told me that I had brought them closer to their own heritage,” she shares.

Pantaleao Fernandes has also received heartfelt responses. “When I published ‘Traditional Occupations of Goa’, a senior Goan in the U.S. wrote to say he cried remembering his homeland. Just an exhibition in Goa would not have made this possible,” says Fernandes, whose photobooks focus on Goan heritage.

“The much-cliched phrase, ‘One picture is worth a thousand words’, inspired my first book, ‘100 Goan Experiences’. Instead of using 5,000 words, I used five photos per page and about 100 words to link them,” he says. “The book sold 13,500 copies, a remarkable number for a small state.”

His other works include ‘Goa Remembered’, ‘Goa: Rare Portraits’, ‘Outdoor Museums of Goa’, ‘Holy Pictures from Goa’, and ‘Stories in Silver: St. Francis Xavier’.

Stepping into the unconventional

Today, many contemporary photobooks are experimenting with the way they are presented, using unusual materials, folds, inserts, and even interactive elements.

Fernandes has also done his share of experimentation. For ‘Outdoor Museums of Goa’, which featured a Hero Stone on the cover, he used a stone-textured finish. In his latest book, ‘Stories in Silver: St. Francis Xavier’, he embossed the photograph of the silver plate used on the cover and enhanced it with the latest printing technology to give it an authentic silver sheen. “For my next book, I’m planning to use actual coins on the cover,” he reveals. Chauhan too used linen on the outer edge of the book, front and back cover.

The costs of publishing

But putting together and publishing a photobook is no easy task. Firstly there comes the edit. “Even though it is a long form format you don’t want to lose the reader by having too many photographs or not sequencing them in an optimal way. And as a photographer you’re attached to your work and cutting down images can be difficult. One needs an objective eye of someone you trust, who knows the art and craft of visual storytelling,” says Chauhan who personally worked with two mentors for her work.

While she admits that she did consider going through a publisher, some observations on photobooks and coffee table books that she came across in bookstores convinced her otherwise and she believed that these were done in a very mainstream and commercially viable manner. “But for me, this was an artistically driven project. I didn’t want to cut corners or lose creative control in any way. I wanted it to be the way I envisioned it,” says Chauhan who is now working on her next photobook also centred around Goa.

Photobook design demands precision, agrees Kulkarni. “You put so much effort into capturing every colour and detail so the printing must match that. You need the right team because a book lasts forever and everything must be perfect,” she says. Producing one, she adds, is a costly, long-term commitment requiring consistency and dedication. “It’s far easier to make a reel, edit it in seconds and post it online. But books have their own charm.”

Fernandes points to high production costs as the biggest deterrent. “A photobook printed on cheap paper with poor-quality production defeats its purpose. The photographs must be exceptional, the colour correction accurate and the printing impeccable,” he says, adding that there will always be a market for quality. Colleges and libraries, he notes, still request copies of ‘Traditional Occupations of Goa’, which now includes 60 occupations after a recent update.

More visibility needed

Although Goa is rich in stories, the photobook trend in the state is still in its early stages.

“While talented photographers here produce strong projects, few turn them into books. This is partly due to a lack of awareness, resources and mentorship in photobook-making,” says Harmalkar.

To address this, he suggests more workshops, residencies and publishing grants, along with bookshops, libraries and festivals that can showcase and sell photobooks.

De Souza, who is working on a photobook about feni, also calls for more workshops, seminars, and guest lectures. “A mela for self-publishers can also help,” he says.

Araujo believes awareness begins with experiencing a photobook firsthand. He urges public libraries and the fine arts college to stock them and says artists and photographers should actively promote the medium. “I make it a point to show my own collection to guests and friends who have never seen a photobook before,” he says.

Harmalkar also suggests photobook fairs, pop-up exhibitions, and talks to introduce new audiences to the format. “State-funded grants for documenting Goan culture in book form would help too. When participants in my workshops make small zines, they quickly become invested in the format,” he says. “The more we bring photobooks into cultural spaces beyond photography circles, the more viable and visible they will be.”

He notes that photographs today often exist only as files, fleeting, fragile and easily forgotten. Printing, he explains, transforms an image from data into a tangible object that can be touched, held and preserved. “Photobooks slow us down, invite reflection and keep our stories alive in physical form,” he says. “For me, making and collecting them is not nostalgia but a way to resist the disposability of images in the digital age and ensure that stories, especially those rooted in local culture, endure.”