Saranya Satheesh

I collaborated with the LCC library on a project centred around the Global South Photobooks Collection, exploring how decolonisation and social justice can be embedded in curatorial and collection development practices. The project aimed to challenge Eurocentric frameworks in visual culture and expand narratives represented in academic archives.

I facilitated two workshops with students and library staff, using participatory methods to explore questions of authorship, cultural context, and knowledge systems. These sessions encouraged critical reflection on power dynamics within curatorial language and visual representation. Students collectively shaped the vision for a physical exhibition showcasing the collection, while a third workshop focused on rethinking exhibition writing from an anti-colonial perspective.

The project fostered cross-departmental collaboration and empowered students to see themselves as co-producers of institutional knowledge. It serves as a model for inclusive, student-led approaches to archive curation and decolonial practice.