Poulomi Basu

Basu received the Royal Photographic Society's Hood Medal for the series Blood Speaks, about the Nepalese practice of Chhaupadi. In 2017, Basu was selected for the Sundance New Frontiers Lab Fellowship. Her photobook Centralia, about the conflict between the Indian state and the Maoist People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, was shortlisted for the 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. Her Eruptions: a decade of creation installation was shown at Side Gallery, Newcastle, UK in 2021/22.

Basu is a co-founder/director of Just Another Photo Festival, begun in 2015, which seeks to democratise access to visual media.

Her To Conquer Her Land series depicts the first female soldiers in the Indian Army, on the India–Pakistan border. In Basu's words, "To Conquer Her Land is about new forms of stress – related to combatant life – that has never existed for Indian women before in history." Her work deals with sensitive issues of self image and focuses on women who are striving to redefine their identity. Basu's work pivots around the "intricate issues of conflict, psychological warfare, class, youth, gender, love, peace, the concept of home, an undefined idea of patriotism, and the strength of the mind." To Conquer Her Land is a fitting title as this work is dedicated to the women who are trying to claim their place not only in the military but also in the eyes of society where gender norms are still harsh towards women. Blood Speaks: A Ritual of Exile deals with the Nepalese practice of Chhaupadi, which "dictates that women who are menstruating, and those who experience bleeding after childbirth, must live in makeshift huts because they are considered impure and therefore untouchable. Exiled by their communities and families, the women are refused access to water and toilets and must eat food scraps, fed to them as though they were animals." Basu made the work in Surkhet District, in a remote region of Nepal, in 2013, 2014 and 2016. When exhibited, the work includes two screen projections, photographs shown in LED-powered light boxes, a surround-soundscape and an immersive virtual reality installation—"The room deliberately evokes the oppressive environment inhabited by the women". Tate Modern curator, Emma Lewis, speaks of Basu's work saying that "Blood Speaks highlighted the grave consequences of normalized violence and how such taboos negatively impact sustainability goals relating to child marriage, attitudes to reproductive health, maternal mortality and school education. The project resulted in Basu collaborating with several charities, including WaterAid for their ‘To Be A Girl' campaign. In 2018, the Nepalese government passed a new law enforcing existing legislation around chhaupadi with a jail sentence and fine."

Poulomi Basu (born October 1983) is an Indian artist, documentary photographer and activist, much of whose work addresses the normalisation of violence against marginalised women.