A unique fundraiser offers quality photographic prints for a steal

Towards the end of January this year, a Magnum photography workshop with veteran British photographer Martin Parr brought together 12 photographers from across the world to the Indian capital. The five-day-long street-photography workshop was meant to capture the essence of Delhi in all its chaotic glory. But not one among them suspected that a photographic exercise meant to explore the soul of the city would become the starting point for an initiative to help the communities these photographers had captured through their lenses only a few months previously.  

Four of these photographers — Guannan Li (Berlin), Samuel Beech (London), Sigga Marrow (Reykjavik) and Verity Fitzgerald (Cape Town) —  stayed in touch and came up with the idea of Prints for India. This photo print fundraiser features a stunning collection of photographs that were taken in India by both world-renowned photographers and emerging talent in the country. 

Photograph by Marc Ressang (Marc Ressang / Prints For India)

 

The fundraising initiative was created in solidarity with a nation that has fired the imagination of the global photography community for decades. Up for sale are donated works from photographic talent from within the country, as well as from a select group of international photographers. Some notable names include Parr himself, award-winning French-Italian photographer Matilde Gattoni, Kolkata-based Soham Gupta and Delhi-based associate member of Magnum Photos, Sohrab Hura, among others. Other names include Arati Kumar-Rao, Srinivas Kuruganti, Jayanta Roy, Anurag Banerjee and Philippe Calia.

Photograph by Erinn Springer (Erinn Springer / Prints For India)

 

Along with donated works, Prints for India will feature guest photographer flash sales, whose names will be kept “secret” and announced every Friday. Works from these photographers will be available only for that week. 

At present, there are 70 images for sale, all at a fixed price of £80 (roughly Rs 7700), which can be viewed and bought at printsforindia.com. These exhibition-quality photo prints are 10x12 inches in size and are presented on museum-grade photographic paper with guaranteed archival qualities. The prints are shipped all over the world at a fixed freight charge of £8 (about Rs 750) by London-based theprintspace, a leading photo and fine art provider.

Photograph by Philippe Calia (Philippe Calia / Prints For India)

“As small businesses are focusing on staying afloat, it’s difficult to provide financial assistance. Prints for India is a great way to reach out to workers who have been most affected, and also support the photography community,” says Anishaa Taraporvala, founder of Monsoon Malabar, a Bengaluru-based specialist arts consultancy, which helped spread the word about this initiative. 

Photograph by Anurag Banerjee (Anurag Banerjee / Prints For India)

All the proceeds from the sale of these photographs will be diverted to Goonj, a Delhi-based non-profit that undertakes disaster relief, humanitarian aid and community development in parts of 23 states across India. Their project, Rahat Covid-19, attempts to provide support to rural communities in India during the ongoing nationwide lockdown. It has helped more than 41,000 families by providing them with rations, initiating local community kitchens and working with locals to produce personal-hygiene essentials such as cloth sanitary napkins and masks. 

Despite the lockdown and numerous travel restrictions, Prints for India is determined to ship the prints worldwide, which are usually dispatched via Royal Mail Signed For services from London, within one to two working days after placing the order. And so while the delivery may be delayed, we are told it is assured.

Prints for India began on April 24 and will continue till May 22