Payal Kakkar (Photo Artist)

Payal Kakkar (b. 1975) is a self-taught artist using the camera as an activist tool that blurs the lines between documentary and art photography. She lives in Delhi and since 2014 has lived part of the year in Goa. She currently uses a Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera with a Canon 24-105mm lens and a DJI Mavic 2 Pro Drone Quadcopter with Hasselblad camera. Her earlier work explored the temples of Angkor Wat and the churches of Goa, exploiting unusual angles, viewpoints, and digital manipulation to reflect not what is seen but what is felt.

The 2018 Kerala floods were a wake-up call and pushed her to study the human impact on ecosystems. Since then, she has used her photographic practice to have a more immediate impact on conservation efforts, often working alongside environmental and community activists. Her environmental photographs focus on landscapes impacted by human activity, exploring the impact of extraction and over-consumption on the communities who live there.

Her film, 'Requiem of a Mangrove Forest' was selected to be screened as a 'Special Presentation' at International Film Festival of India 2024, Goa. Her work has been recognized by the Earth Photo 2025, Tokyo International Foto Awards 2024 and 2023, Prix de la Photographie de Paris, Indian Photo Festival 2022 and Budapest International Foto Awards 2022. It was the finalist for the Chennai Photo Biennale 2022 Iyarkai Grant and for the 'State of the World' Paris Photo Prize (PX3), Sienna Drone Awards in 2021 and 2022.