‘Crossings: Photography from the Indian subcontinent‘ is now open at the Rijksmuseum until 12 October, 2025.

The museum’s photography collection contains around 1,200 images from 19th-century India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Many of these images were commissioned for European and American audiences who knew very little about the countries and regions they depict. The photographs supposedly presented an objective view of the world, but now we can see how they clearly reflected the interests of the people who commissioned them. Crossings invites you to look again — at what photography shows and what it hides. How do images shape history, and who gets to frame the story?

The museum invited me to showcase a selection from my series ‘A Myth of Two Souls‘, which provides a contemporary counterpoint to the museum’s collection. I created a site-specific installation, and I hope some of you will have the opportunity to view the exhibition.

All the best,
Vasantha