School is a Cultural Box

School Is a Cultural Box brings together a selection of photographs created between January 2017 and May 2018, during involvement in educational projects across India, Myanmar, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. The title reflects an ongoing inquiry into how systems of learning are shaped by culture—how education both mirrors and constructs collective identity and at the same time reflects power dynamics of society, class and religion.

Through analogue, digital and documentary practice, the series explores the spaces where teaching, representation, and cultural perception intersect. Guided by a decolonial approach, the work resists external narratives of observation and instead seeks an ethics of presence—one grounded in reciprocity, listening, and shared experience. Each image stands as a moment of exchange rather than documentation, revealing the subtle ways in which education becomes a vessel of culture, memory, and imagination.