About Soumita

Soumita Bhattacharya is a documentary photographer based in the greater Seattle area. She works on stories of culture, identity, and performing arts.

Soumita serves on the board of Blue Earth Alliance, a Seattle based nonprofit that supports visual storytellers working on critical environmental and social issues. Some of her past roles using visual art for social impact include programming lead of the virtual reality segment of the largest US-based South Asian film festival (Tasveer, Seattle), independent curator for Just Another Photo Festival (JAPF, India) bringing photography to blue-collar and inner city areas, and photo editor for Slideluck Editorial promoting the positive impact contemporary photography can have on society, and as a project photographer for Charities Aid Foundation (India). Her work has been published in major newspapers in India, and in books and magazines on dance. Soumita is a graduate of the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism program at the International Center of Photography in NYC.

Honors

• International Photography Awards 2015- Honorable mention (Professional), Categories Fine Art portrait and People portrait, for the photo project titled “B’deshi” (link)
• Toto Funds the Arts 2013, India – Top four among 100+ photographer applicants below 30 years of age (link). Toto Funds the Arts is a non-profit trust set up in 2004 in memory of Angirus 'Toto' Vellani, who was intensely passionate about music, literature and film. It nurtures and encourages young artists in India through awards, workshops and other events.

Exhibitions

• Tipping Point (June 20-Aug 9 2015), Rita K. Hillman Education Gallery ICP, group exhibition (link)
• Parallel focus, New Delhi 2013 – Photo Exhibition in collaboration with Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan (German Mission) and Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council (Swiss Embassy) as well as Time Out magazine, New Delhi (link) exploring the role of shopping malls in society
• India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (April 2011) – Solo exhibition of dance photographs on account of World Dance Day 2011. India Habitat Centre established itself as a platform for cultural activity supporting art, crafts, material culture, emerging talent, and also the medium of photography. It is the platform of choice for visual artists to showcase their work in New Delhi, India
• Russian Centre for Science and Culture New Delhi (August 2-31st 2010) – Participated in a group exhibition “Glimpses of Russia and India”. The Russian Center is the main representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo in India. Its activities are aimed at the introduction of the Indian society into the external policy of Russia

Publications / Press List

Magazines, books and journals

• Magazine – Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary DIPLOMATIST May 2012 (Pages 70, 71)
• Magazine – Indian Express EYE THE SUNDAY EXPRESS November 2012 (Page 22)
• Magazine – MARG, A Magazine of the Arts Volume 68 Number 4, 2017 (link)
• Magazine – OPEN Vol 5, Issue 26, 2013 (Pages 49 and 54) (link)
• Magazine – TIME OUT  Delhi 2013 (Page 19)
• Magazine – PULSE 2015, Page 11 (link)
• Book – SHIFT BOOK Volume 10, International Center of Photography, 2015
• Book – TILT PAUSE SHIFT: Dance Ecologies in India 2017 (link)
• Journal – Movement Research Performance Journal Volume 39, 2011 (link)
• Journal – Tasveer Journal 2013 (link)
• Journal – Yale School of Drama, Theatre Magazine 2014 (Andrea Tompa’s article)

Newspapers

• Between 2010 and 2012 in the print edition of The Times of India
• The Sunday Guardian 2013 (link), a popular Sunday newspaper in India
• Time Out Magazine 2013 in New Delhi (link), a leading lifestyle magazine in India
• Deccan Herald (link) in 2015, a print newspaper in Southern India founded in 1948
• Asian Age (2012 link, 2011 link, link), a national newspaper in India founded in 1994
• Indian Express 2012 (link), a national newspaper in India founded in 1931
• Mint (2012 link, 2014 link) an English language paper founded in 2007
• The Hindu (2013 link, 2011 link) Indian English language paper founded in 1878
• The Telegraph (2011 Calcutta edition, link), a popular English paper founded in 1982
• The Statesman, a regional Indian English paper founded in 1875, in 2010 and 2011
• The Seattle Times (link, Image 2) through the Associated Press in 2017