Your name
Sujata Setia
Place of birth
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Place where you live now
Dartford, Kent, UK
3 words to describe you
artist, mother, woman
Why do you take pictures?
Because it is a language more universal and democratic than the spoken word.
Where do you get your inspiration?
personal lived experiences
Who are your influences?
No specific influence
What determines the subject matter you choose?
Again, personal lived experience are the drive behind most of my artistic endeavours
What impact would you like your art to have?
To channel meaningful conversations around narratives that have been shrouded in silence and kept away from public domain.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
I am inspired by all forms of art. I don't equate art to boredom.
Is there anything you want to add?
No. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

A Thousand Cuts
Project statement

Derived from the ancient Asian form of torture - “Lingchi - A thousand Cuts” studies the patterns of domestic abuse in the South Asian culture through personal narratives of survivors, who along with their stories of abuse receive the dignity of taking centre stage in this project.
I have borrowed the metaphorical meaning of Lingchi to showcase the cyclical nature of domestic abuse.
The continuous act of chipping at the soul of the abused, is expressed by making cuts on the portrait of the participant with a knife.
The paper used to print the portrait is a thin A4 sheet, depicting the fragility of her existence.
I have kept the project at a domestic scale, using resources available within the home as a metaphorical reflection of violence occurring within the human space. 
The red colour underneath the portraits signifies not just martyrdom and strength but also the onset of a new beginning.
“A thousand Cuts” is an effort to understand abuse from many different frames of references. The role of past in formulating narratives of the present and the future… locating the inter-relativity between childhood and adulthood.
It is a collaborative and an ongoing project. My intent was to create a metaphorical “waiting room,” where strangers meet and talk to each other without any fear of judgement or hierarchies. An imaginary space where conversations around abusive lived experiences continue to happen. Where it is easy to come out. A room where you are heard, seen, understood and where you feel safe to leave your story behind.
These initial dialogues led to the creation of a vector of faith between myself and the participants in this project. We then moved on to private one-on-one conversations and me photographing each survivor individually with their consent and their complete control on the way they want to be “seen.” Once I printed the images, the survivor then selected the image she wanted me to start making the cuts on and made suggestions on the metaphorical representation of their narratives through those cuts.
From there on, it has been over a year and the conversations continue. Sometimes I listen. Sometimes I get heard… but we promise to “see” each other.
Through these conversations, we have collectively tried to study the journey of abuse from the private, intimate space where violence occurs; to its place in the public domain, whether it be in terms of how the private reality is subverted; decorated in public or that initial disclosure process when the survivor breaks their silence and speaks out to family, friends, neighbours, colleagues or even absolute strangers. This photographic study draws on interviews with 21 South Asian women and analyses the interactional and emotional processes of the first public disclosure of their private reality. The long term intention is to bring narratives of abuse into the public discourse, arts and human spaces.
In that sense, “A thousand Cuts” is an invitation for an open dialogue that allows both the survivor and the society at large, to explore concepts such as trauma, suffering, genetic and cultural predispositions, gender and identity politics without sacrificing their own vulnerability or risking confrontation.

sujata setia
@butnaturalphotography