Now, there are dedicated platforms for photobooks like Offset Projects in Delhi and Editions Jojo, a publisher, bookstore, library and visual culture platform in Mumbai. There are artist-run small presses like Indu Antony’s Mazhi Books and Soumya Sankar Bose’s Red Turtle Photobook. There’s the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, which has been providing grants for photobooks since 2020. And of course, there’s a growing readership. “There’s definitely a deep thirst for photobooks in India now,” says Anshika. She also mentions how one could feel a difference after photographer Sohrab Hura’s self-publishing imprint Ugly Dog Books. It brought about a shift in the minds of photographers in terms of thinking about self-publishing as an approach to work.

Kaamna Patel, photographer and founder of Editions Jojo, believes that the diversity in the types of photobooks we see in India, both in form and content, which respond to the personal and the political, is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. “We are rethinking the format to meet our storytelling needs and production capabilities, while also developing an audience, which requires innovation with the resources at our disposal.” She believes that with the lack of dedicated photobook publishers in the country, self-publishing is a powerful solution that can also organically diversify the pool of published material.

Moreover, it has also come to foster a deep sense of community among Indian photographers. “Self-publishing gave me access to the larger community and also to local printers, binders and materials… One of the best things about it is the people I work with, the friends I’ve made and the skills I’ve gained through all the different projects,” Kaamna adds. As a publisher, Anshika also feels she’s been able to find creative solutions to challenges, particularly distribution and financing, with the help of the community and “circles of trust” she’s built over the years.