b. 1986, India
Raj Lalwani (www.rajlalwani.com) is drawn to the familiar and the outlandish, and seeks to make photographs that blur the lines between the two. Memory, cinema and the night are some of the things that influence his work.
Simultaneous to his photographic practice, has been his other life, as a writer. For the better part of a decade, Raj wrote on photography in India, because of which he would engage both with the history of the medium, and with fellow contemporary practitioners.
In 2018, doc! photo & Blow Up Press named him as one of the 20 best emerging photographers in the world. More recently, his work was shortlisted by Encontros da Imagem as one of the best contemporary photography portfolios in the world.
Raj lives in Bombay, not Mumbai. Most of the time, though, he lives in his head.
2007: Part of a group show at Kitab Mahal, Bombay
2009: Part of a group show at the Max Mueller Bhavan, Bombay
2011: Exhibited at Delhi Photo Festival
2012: Winner: Seeing the Light, a photography competition judged by Joel Meyerowitz
2012: Part of a group show at the Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA, Bombay.
2014: Shortlist: APA/Lucie Foundation Scholarship
2014: Neel Dongre Awards/Grants for Excellence in Photography
2015: Part of a group show at the India International Centre, Delhi
2015: Exhibited at Goa International Photo Festival
2015: Exhibited at Indian Photography Festival, Hyderabad
2016: Part of a group show at The Egg, Delhi
2016: Runner Up, Silk Inspire Documentary Wedding Photography Award
2017: Fòcas India Best Single Image, part of a screening at Purvai Festival, Scotland
2018: Runner Up, Best Photo Essay at the Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year Awards
2018: Nominated as one of the 20 best emerging photographers around the world by Blow Up Press and doc! photo magazine, Warsaw
2018: Exhibited at Fotofestiwal, Łódź
2018: Exhibited at the W Ramach Sopotu Festival of Photography, National Art Gallery, Sopot
2018: Exhibited at Vintage Photo Festival, Bydgoszcz
2019: Nominee, Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year Awards
2019: Runner Up, Best Photo Essay, The Hindu Photojournalism Awards, in association with Chennai Photo Biennale
2020: Winner, Best Photo Essay, Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year Awards
2020: Shortlisted as one of the Best Contemporary Photography Portfolios in the World by Encontros da Imagem, Portugal
2020: Longlist: World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent Program 2020
2023: Fellow: Nearest Truth Year-Long Photobook Programme
2024: Exhibited at Between Walls & Covers, an exhibition of Nearest Truth Photobook Artists, Athens
rajlalwani.photo@gmail.com