My Compelling Story

Arka Alam is a visual artist, currently residing in the former capital city of India, Kolkata. In a multicultural economy that often seeks to divorce profits from value, his mission is to try and make the most of the opportunity that is offered to his generation in terms of the burgeoning growth of the cultural sectors – art, theatre, music and visual media. All of the above have been a mainstay for him for the longest time, and he finds great solace in adding his unique ingredients to the ever evolving cauldron of cultural alchemy. His academic qualifications include a B.A. in Comparative Literature, from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in 2011 and M.A in Mass Communication from AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia University, in 2013. Since the completion of his masters, he has worked on several projects related to visual arts and visual communication. His artwork was used in an Indo-US film called ‘Unfreedom’ by Raj Amit Kumar, which released in the United States in May, 2015. He also worked on the post production of the film under the art department, making illustrations and posters for the said project. Thereafter, he shot a documentary called ‘Drug Deluge’ which dealt with the problems of drug abuse in Punjab, followed by a short documentation of the de-installation video shot for Subodh Gupta’s show 'Everything Is Inside', at NGMA (National Gallery of Modern Art). He was behind the camera for both the projects. He has also shot and documented several musical events in Delhi, ranging from Sufi music festivals to LIVE gigs for Delhi-based bands. After moving to Kolkata in the summer of 2014, he has set up a studio where he mostly experiments with photography and fine arts. Besides his personal work, he was also working as a photographer with a city-based webzine, called Eye Art Collective. In 2015, he assisted a contemporary Indian artist called Praneet Soi for his show 'Srinagar', helping him create murals for the said project. Besides all of this, he is also extremely passionate about graffiti and spends most of his free time transforming empty walls into works of art.