Vikram Kushwah is an India-born, England-based photographer captivated by the intimacies of the human experience and the limitlessness of childlike wonder. Manifesting mystic imaginings with his analog camera, Kushwah's enchanting photographs bring story-book-esque narratives to life.
Kushwah was born in New Delhi in 1983, attending a boarding school in the foothills of the Northern Indian Himalayas from a young age. The free reign environment he experienced in boarding school would go on to inspire his artistic pursuits. While studying for a BA in Fashion Design, Kushwah fell in love with photography, leading to a career of art and commercial projects. He studied photography in Ooty, South India and worked in Mumbai assisting an advertising photographer before moving to London in 2008. There, he pursued a postgraduate diploma at the London College of Communication, after which he received a MA in Photography from the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester in 2010, a change of course that encouraged his exploration of photography as an art form. His degree project Ofelea—available for purchase—began a rich practice of romantic and nostalgic imagery.
Whether editorial portraits for Vogue India or fantastical Alice-in-Wonderland-like series, Kushwah’s work is rooted in a slow and considered creative process. He often writes or draws out a story before locating the right models and space. With a head full of magic and daydreams, his personal spiritual pursuit grounds his work. Meditations on mortality, the workings of the universe, and the passage of time inspire his practice, as do the ideologies of the Romantics, Surrealists, and Pre-Raphaelites. Modern influences include Tim Walker (b. 1970), Francesca Woodman (1958-1981), and Guy Bourdin (1928-1991). More than anything, though, he is touched by the human experience: inspired by the people and stories he comes across in his photography.
Drawn to nature, Kushwah spends his time between his home in Eastbourne and London, returning to India yearly as well. He was most recently shortlisted for the 2019 National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize and was winner of the 2018 and 2019 Portrait of Britain Award. A meditative artist in practice and a footloose child at heart, Kushwah’s free spirit shines through in his work: his photography embodies the adventure and memories of his youth, inspiring us to recall our own tales and treasures.