WINNER INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY RESIDENCY 2024.
I was lucky (and honestly a bit stunned) to win the International Photography Residency 2024 — La Vie en Bleu, Nice. I sent in a photo essay from India and found myself in France with one simple brief: walk the city, make a body of work, and mount an exhibition—in seven days.
I have never walked as much as I walked Nice that week. At first, everything felt intimidating— a new city, a new language, and the famously reserved French temperament. But the reality was the opposite. The people were warm, the city opened itself to me and then there was Ximena Echague—mentor, cheerleader, gentle but firm voice saying, “Keep walking, keep looking.”
By the end of the week, somehow, magically, the work came together: women laughing at markets, sunbathers melting on the beach, legs, dogs, dresses, reflections, and the glorious everyday theatre of Nice.
If I could sum up the residency in one sentence:
Nice made me walk, people made me laugh, Ximena made me see, and the whole experience made me braver.
Residency: June 1–7, 2024 with mentor, internationally renowned photographer Ximena Echague
Exhibition: June 8–30, 2024 at La Guard du Sud, Nice, France
