RPS Awards Talks... Poulomi Basu with Monica Allende

In this on-going series of 'in conversations' hear from leading individuals talk about how they use photography as artists, scientists, educators, publishers and curators. All our speakers are recent RPS Award recipients who have been recognised for their contribution to the medium. They are discussing their work with those who know them well.

All talks and links to recordings (where available) in the series can be seen here: https://rps.org/awardstalks

Poulomi Basu, RPS Hood Medal recipient 2020, in conversation with Monica Allende.

Poulomi Basu is an Indian transmedia artist, photographer, and activist whose work advocating for the rights of women has received wide attention. In her practice, she explores how the formation of identity intersects with geopolitics to reveal the deep, often hidden power structures in our societies. Born and raised in India, Basu spent her formative years in Kolkata, whose cinematic tradition provided early inspiration. Basu majored in Sociology, then completed her Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication. Basu was awarded the prestigious Hood Medal by the Royal Photographic Society in 2020 for her transmedia work Blood Speaks which put menstrual rights on the international agenda and resulted in a major policy change. She has exhibited internationally and is a National Geographic Society Explorer, Sundance Fellow, and a Magnum Foundation Fellow. She directs Just Another Photo Festival, a traveling guerilla visual media festival that democratizes photography by offering it to ordinary people and building new audiences. Her first book, Centralia (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2020), was the winner of the Discovery Award 2020 at Les Rencontres d'Arles and a nominee for the 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.

Monica Allende is an independent curator/artistic director, consultant and educator. She is the Artistic Director of Landskrona Foto Festival, and was GetxoPhoto International Image Festival Artistic Director from 2017 to 2019. She has also collaborated with WeTransfer as a Consultant and Creative Producer and was the director of FORMAT17 International Photography Festival. She is curating the Blues Skies Project, a multidisciplinary project with artist Anton Kusters and Ruben Samama, shortlisted for the Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize 2019 and exhibiting in Recontrees d’ Arles in 2021. She collaborated with Screen Projects as a producer of the ScreenLabs.

Allende was the Photo Editor at the Sunday Times Magazine, where she launched Spectrum, the award-winning photography section. She is a visiting lecturer at the London College of Communication, London & EFTI in Madrid. She has also produced and taught creatives labs for FIFV in Chile, ScreenLab in London and Taskheil in Saudi Arabia. The Mentorship Business Programme for the University of Sunderland’s and workshop for Internazionale a Ferrara, WPP workshop Angola, Magnum Professional Practice, among many others, as well as WPP JOOP Masterclass.

She is dedicated to nurturing new and established talent and nominates photographers for prizes including the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, the Prix Pictet and The Joop Swart Masterclass/ WPP. Allende is also a reviewer and ambassador for Reminders Photography Stronghold in Japan and Docking Station in Holland.

The 'in conversation' will be followed by a public Q+A. Questions will be taken by Zoom chat or can be emailed in advance. Your Zoom link will be sent in PDF with your booking confirmation. 

All talks and links to recordings (where available) in the series can be seen here: https://rps.org/awardstalks