Samar S Jodha

Samar Singh Jodha is a photographer and installation artist who, over the last 25 years, has been using photography, film and public art projects to address various issues such as community development and conservation. Some of these include:

BHOPAL – A Silent Picture is a multimedia installation which documents the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. The installation is housed in a 40-foot container, and has visited many locations globally, most notably the London Olympics.

OUTPOST is a visual disquisition on spontaneous individual expression in a rapidly homogenising global culture. Discarded containers fashioned into habitat by miners were deployed in a pictorial trope at the 55th Venice Biennale.

Phaneng is a portraiture project about the disappearing Tai Phake, a Burmese Buddhist tribe. This award-winning project was seen at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and work with this endangered community continues, including the setting up of an eco-tourism project, revival of traditional textiles, educational programmes, and reforestation, amongst other initiatives.

Express/Aspire is a pro-bono project which incorporates photography workshops for underprivileged children in Asia and Africa. Over the last 20 years, the workshops have been going beyond the honing of the children’s creativity to help raise their self-esteem, impart life lessons and highlight other possibilities that are hard for them to otherwise imagine in their difficult circumstances. Awards, fundraisers, and art-auctions are some of the other outputs emerging from this project.

Additionally, Samar’s skills and experience have been sought after in the commercial and professional world. Most recently, Samar has been a judge on Nat Geo Cover Shot, an ongoing award-winning reality TV show, mentoring professional photographers. Samar has been commissioned by the likes of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BBC World Service Trust and the United Nations. In Dubai, he conceptualised the documenting of the building of Burj Khalifa and Downtown Dubai under the title of “History in the Making”. The six-year project included a number of films and exhibitions for Emaar, the Skyscraper Museum in New York City, Nat Geo and Discovery Channel.

Samar continues to work on advisory panels for corporates on CSR and publishing projects. He is a regular speaker on TED and TEDx including speaking at TEDx Vienna on the artist’s role in sustainability and capacity building.