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Aaryan Sinha (2001) is a photographer from New Delhi, India, whose work examines how perceptions of Indian identity shift within a Western context. By combining themes of colonialism, politics and personal narratives, he reveals the fragile boundary between memory and the erasure of identity. At Prospects, Sinha presents two bodies of work side by side. This Isn’t Divide and Conquer (2022–2026) is a long-term series that explores the lasting impact of the partition of India in 1947. Travelling through the five Indian states bordering Pakistan, he traces the legacy of one of the largest forced migrations in modern history – an event that also compelled his own grandparents to relocate. Through his photographs, Sinha reflects on the risk of these historical patterns repeating themselves in contemporary India, emphasizing similarities between communities rather than their differences.
Alongside this work, Sinha presents three images from For What Was, Will Soon Be Forgotten, an extract from the same series in which he focuses on Kashmir. The extraction of lithium from the ground has radically altered the landscape there. Sinha visualizes this transformation through temporary scaffolding constructed from a total of two tonnes of steel, setting the silence of the still largely unspoilt natural environment against the unrelenting force of human intervention – at a time when industrial and economic developments are set to further reshape the region.
Written by: Kelly-ann van Steveninck