Portrait nominee

I made this portrait of my friend, Maddie in my flat in London. Maddie exemplifies body confidence and defiance to mainstream messages of what a normal body should look like. I wanted to capture that confidence and her femininity by making her look like someone out of a Renaissance painting.

I am a Nepalese-Australian photographer based in London, UK. I make photographs to know myself better. It helps me be honest with myself; to learn who I am, what I find beauty in, what I desire and what I avert. Creating photographs helps me remove layers upon layers of family expectations, social conditioning and my own adopted values of who I should be and discover who I really am at the core - the raw and vulnerable me.

My work represents rebelliousness over tradition, authenticity over ego and peace over shame. It communicates the impermanence of everything that we care about and futility of not being true to oneself. It shows the fleeting moments of life - the hugs, the pain, the emotions and how each of them deserves acknowledgement. I hope that I can use my photography to help people peel back their own layers of armour and see, accept and be themselves, even if for a brief moment in time.

Winner: Portrait of Britain 2018, 2020, 2024
Semi-Finalist: Head On Photo Awards 2023
Shortlistee: British Photography Awards 2023
Shortlistee: Portrait of Humanity 2023
Shortlistee: Portrait of Britain 2023
Nominee: FAPA 2019/2020, FAPA 2020/2021