“Satnam”

Coffee table book with screen printed titles. Captured winter 2024-2025, published summer 2025. 100 copies.

There are many interpretations of the meaning of “Satnam” -- my grandmother’s name and a mantra in Sikhism. Mine: “Sat” means truth or forever stable, and “Naam” refers to the existence of oneness and interconnection. 

This coffee table book contains film photographs and screen prints from a few months of interactions and exploration in the places I grew up in (India, Philippines, and Japan), a place I found myself returning to (Sri Lanka), and places I got to experience for the first time (Puerto Rico, Peru, and Mexico). 

After 7 years in the US, starting a remote job as a researcher in global health allowed me to act on a desire to reconnect with where I come from and scratch an itch that had been telling me to explore setting up home base in another country.

I spoke with many strangers and friends, recording audio and capturing stills with a film camera I traded for artwork before I left for the trip. I asked people when and where they feel most present and connected, if they had learned anything recently that they did not necessarily seek out, and what they thought the world needed more of. 

Coming back to New York in the spring, I put this book together, thinking about how each place and person reshaped my understanding of home and what I want to surround my life with. I shared it at a show in Brooklyn that I also called “Satnam” before moving to Barcelona— a weekend where I felt so much love for New York and the people I surrounded myself with there. 

In print, the book contains excerpts from the people photographed. This archive (below) contains some of the visuals. Many of these pages have accompanying screen-printed/lightbox versions presented as individual art pieces, example here :)