Poulomi Basu is an Indian transmedia artist, photographer and activist. She was raised by her mother in Kolkata, India, until age 17 when she was encouraged to leave the country. Self-described as having chosen the path less travelled, Basu’s practice has taken her to some of the most remote parts of the world to capture stories ‘of ordinary people who quietly challenge the prevailing orthodoxies of the world in which they live.’ Her photographic depictions of human existence in the presence of conflict and injustice have resulted in a powerful and growing body of work that has garnered global attention. Through her ‘photo-activism’ she has played a role in reshaping policy in Nepal regarding the health, safety and rights of women and girls. She is an exceptional mid-career artist whose practice and commitment to global change have the ability to alter how we think about contemporary photography.

The series Centralia explores a decades long geopolitical conflict in central and eastern India. Originally envisioned in book format, the series takes its name from a once booming industrial mining town in Pennsylvania, USA. In the wake of the Great Depression and world wars the mining industry collapsed, and the town lost its momentum. Then in the 1960s a subterranean fire and subsequent spread of methane gases forced residents out of Centralia leaving an uninhabitable ghost town. The US postal service suspended the town’s postcode in 2002. Today, the creepy bones of Centralia are used as a set for horror films.

A harrowing foreshadow, Basu connects the disappearance of the mining industry in Centralia to the expansion of the industry in India. Through a maze of David Lynch inspired dreamscapes, fragments and hallucinations, Basu’s Centralia depicts a complex history and present day narrative about the process of corporate mining and the violence against humans and land that accompanies it. Photographed over the course of ten years, the pictures reveal the many truths and falsities behind this war waged by the Indian military-corporate complex against local communities.