Kochi Biennale Foundation Hosts “Let’s Talk” with Rahaab Allana

The Kochi Biennale Foundation will host the Let’s Talk programme titled Displaced Photographs: Encountering ‘South Asian’ Image Cartographies, featuring Rahaab Allana, on 15 July 2026 at 11:00 AM at the College of Fine Arts Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. The event is presented with the support of Kirloskar.Rahaab Allana’s presentation centres on a recent donation to the Alkazi Foundation in New Delhi previously unseen photographic works by the revolutionary and agricultural scientist Pandurang Sadashiv Khankhoje (1884–1967). More than historical records, these photographs offer new perspectives on the political and cultural histories of the early twentieth century while exploring the power of images to shape, challenge, and preserve memory.Tracing Khankhoje’s extraordinary life, from his self-imposed exile in Mexico to his journeys across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, the talk reflects on displacement, migration, and the movement of photographs across borders. Drawing from Allana’s recent publication Unframed (2023), it considers how these overlooked images can offer new ways of understanding South Asia and its interconnected histories.Rahaab Allana is a Curator and Publisher at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi. A Charles Wallace grant awardee and Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (UK), he is the founder of ASAP | art (Alternative South Asia Photography | Art) and the editor of Unframed: Discovering Image Practices in South Asia (2023) and Another Lens: Photography and the Emergence of Image Culture (2024). He was recently awarded the Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Government of France.