Sayan Hazra is a documentary photographer, visual artist, and National Geographic Explorer born in Howrah, and now divides his time between two Indian cities — Bengaluru and Kolkata. After graduating in 2007 with a degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the West Bengal University of Technology, he developed software for a decade. In 2018, Sayan decided to become a full-time freelance photographer and started his career as an event and music photographer. That same year, Sayan also attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. He was the only person from Asia to receive the VII Foundation international scholarship to participate in a series of 2018-2019 Photojournalism Masterclasses in Warsaw, Poland. He started focusing on personal projects to work on subjects he deeply cares about. Since then, he has been published by BBC (2018-2019), Travel and Leisure (2019), Social and Political Research Foundation Journal (2019), Broad Magazine (2020), and Nature Journal (2022). In 2021, the international photography festival "Cortona On The Move" collected his multimedia work "Truck Quarantine" as part of a permanent online archive on the Covid pandemic. The International Center of Photography in New York awarded him the Director's Fellowship (for the 2023 academic year) to pursue a one-year certificate program in Documentary Practice & Visual Storytelling. In 2023, Sayan received a National Geographic Society Storytelling Grant to work on his project that looks at the impact of urban growth on greenspaces in Bengaluru, India. Since 2020, the Diversify Photo community represents him as a person of color from the global south.
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / SCHOLARSHIPS:
2023: National Geographic Explorer Grant2022: Director's Fellowship from The International Center of Photography in New York to pursue a one-year certificate program in Documentary Practice & Visual Storytelling (2023 academic year).
2018: Only person from Asia to receive the VII Foundation international scholarship to participate in a series of 2018-2019 Photojournalism Masterclasses in Warsaw, Poland.
PUBLICATIONS:
12/2022: Nature Journal: This ecologist uses fake flowers to study India’s insects
05/2020: Photo-Letter: Newsletter: Woman with a Disc
04/2020: Fotofestin Newsletter: Efectos del envejecimiento de la población en la India
03/2020: Broad Magazine: Bengaluru - Growing Fast
12/2019: Social and Political Research Foundation India: Chipping Away: The Paradox of Documenting E-Waste
11/2019: Discover India Magazine (Print): A Naga Feast
11/2019: Social and Political Research Foundation India: No Country for the Elderly
09/2019: Social and Political Research Foundation India:Glimpses from the Garden City
07/2019: Travel and Leisure Magazine (Online): Discovering Street Art In Warsaw Through The Lens Of Sayan Hazra
07/2019: Travel and Leisure Magazine (Print): Art for the Street
06/2019: BBC News: 'My parents wanted me to marry. I became a DJ'
01/2019: Travel and Leisure Magazine (Online): Discover The Nightlife Of The Nagas During The Hornbill Festival
01/2019: Travel and Leisure Magazine (Print): A Naga Feast
12/2018: BBC News: 'I don't want to burden my children': Life in an Indian care home
09/2018: BBC News: The Indian tribe that gave up hunting to save forests
EXHIBITIONS:
2021: Truck Quarantine — The Covid-19 Visual Project (The Economic Effects, Chapter 4.09), The Covid-19 Visual Project is an International Permanent Online Archive on the Coronavirus Pandemic by Cortona on The Move.
2021: Truck Quarantine — Online-Global-Exhibition-Link, The Covid Experience Dispatches from Asia, An online global exhibition by Poy Asia (POY Asia is a program of Pictures of the Year International)
2021: Truck Quarantine — Online-Global-Exhibition-Link, Indian Photo Festival 2021
2019: The Expendables— Kolkata International Photography Festival
INVITED TALKS:
2022: Lecture on “Social Media Application & Democratic Journalism”, Howrah Press Club, Howrah, India
2021: Artist talk on “How to fuse democratic journalism and remotely guided vernacular, photography using cross-platform social media applications?”, Fotofestín – Festival de Fotografía México, Mexico.
2020: Artist talk on “The Environmental Warriors of Khonoma, Nagaland”, Jaya He Museum Digital Carnival, Utsar 2020, Jaya He GVK New Museum, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Mumbai, India
CONTACT:
Facebook: /sayan.images | Instagram: /sayan.images | Linkedin: /sayan-images | Vimeo: /sayanimages
Photo Credit: Abir Bose