Kavya Krishna is a photographer that is studying at NYU Tisch. Her interest in photography stemmed from landscape photography and her desire to capture the sublime. Using that draw towards the various landscapes of the country, she is working to photography the South Asian community within traditional American landscapes. Her work aims to respond to the representations of America that have been created in the past that only feature white faces, with images that depicts the rapidly changing demographics of the country.
A Town In America
Although the South Asian population in the United States is relatively new, it has simultaneously evolved to be one of the most affluent minorities, with a substantial population ensconced in the suburbs. Using the folklore of New England (a landscape incessantly represented by whiteness) as a quaint and ideal backdrop, “A Town In America” attempts to reinterpret traditional imagery of suburbia by inserting South Asian personalities. Acknowledging the birth and construction of the suburbs and subsequent white flight from cities to suburbs, this project also explores the rapidly changing demographics of suburbia and the intersection of minority status and privilege present in South Asian spaces. The goal is to represent the “utopia” that the suburbs are often portrayed as, while acknowledging that its peace can oftentimes be complicated by requirements of assimilation and the idea of “The American Dream”. Through creating scenes that aren’t far off from the reality of the life South Asians live in the suburbs, I begin a dialogue about how, as minorities, South Asians hold a space of simultaneous privilege and invisibility.
To view more of Kavya Krishna’s work please visit their website.