Notes on Southasian photography beyond borders

The Earth's atmosphere is a potent vantage point from which to look at regionality, territoriality, spatiality, nationality and identity in Southasia. Commercial jets fly through this expanse, with peripatetic humans in a temporarily suspended nation-condition.

Imagine that you look out from a flight, trying to locate your position, and you begin to take some photos through the window frame – a viewfinder in its own right to the space outside. Inside – despite holding close the physical, documentary evidence of their identity and having had their bodies closely scanned and scrutinised before boarding – passengers and crew alike exist in a temporary state of voluntary exile, suspended above and between nations. The expansion of the air-traveling middle classes in Southasia in the last few decades – which has also been a key driver of the democratisation of photography in the region – has subjected us more frequently than ever before to this "airplane condition".