Bharat Sikka was born and raised in India, where he began his photographic practice before studying at the Parsons School of Design, NY. Sikka’s long term photographic projects have centered on the cultural residues and societal transformations within India, rendered with the visual language and material forms of contemporary art photography. His work subtly speaks to India’s history and regionality (of Kashmir, in Where the Flowers Still Grow), the tide of globalization (Matter), and masculinity (Indian Men). For Unseen 2019, Sikka creates an installation version of The Sapper - his detailed and layered portrayal of his father. Sikka brings together multiple vantage points; from the remote landscapes that his father inhabits and maintains to subtle still life observations of his habits and routines. Over the course of 3 years, Sikka and his father’s photographic relationship has also become multi-layered, shown in the range of Sikka’s intimate portraits of his father in his daily life through to the collaborative performances and enactments that the engineer-father undertakes for his photographer-son.
