On a cold rainy morning in March 2024 in New York, I walked up from Washington Square Village to the Fashion Institute of Technology at 27th St to meet Brian Emery, associate chair of photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It was a meeting without any agenda, two educators meeting to exchange notes. However, by the end of the meeting, about 2 hours later, an idea was born – to work on a collaborative photography project between a cohort of students from both the institutes that would emerge as shows in New York and Bangalore in 2025 – a conversation between us. Our objective was to give a platform to the voices from both countries, which we thought was (and is) relevant in this increasingly complex and layered world. The idea was met with enthusiastic support from both the institutes. My colleague Jatin Gulati gladly stepped into the project. We set out on our project a few months later. We put out an open call; students applied, and 15 were selected based on their portfolios. The project worked outside the regular academic framework. The students would not get any credits, nor was there any attendance requirement. In September 2024, we had our first meeting with the FIT team online.
The next few months were a roller coaster but exhilarating. We met every Wednesday to review and discuss. The two cohorts met at regular intervals and exchanged notes. The cohort expanded to include alumni and faculty as well, and some students dropped out over time. The body of work produced is significant and such cross cultural and cross continental dialogues are crucial to bring about a better world.
The title of the project is Being Hyper Human.
“In more ways than one, our worlds are closer than ever. We encounter images of distant places directly in the palm of our hands. Our sense of time oscillates between lived experience and its representation on our screens. Increasingly, we seek the image of reality more than reality itself. Photography plays a pivotal role in this flattening of the world—where performing for the camera becomes as ordinary as observing through it. With the rise of digital and social media platforms, we often have to become images before we can connect with others. This exhibition reflects on what it means to inhabit this hyper-image world, presenting works that examine our deepening entanglement with images: What relationship do we have with images of ourselves? What meanings of the present are generated by looking at them? Why are we unsettled when reality doesn’t match its image? And, what becomes of our being if being human is increasingly tagged to an image?”
A preview of this project was held at SMI on 17th and 18th May, coinciding with our grad show, SMI Collective 2025. The larger show opened at the Art and Design Gallery of FIT on June 12th. It will run till September 3, 2025.
Photographs by Brian Emery.
