AMAN ALAM
Photobook: Ozymandias

Ozymandias is Aman Alam’s affective tribute to his grandmother Naseem, drawing upon Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1818 sonnet. Through chaptered sequences, Alam captures some of the final years he spends with her as caregiver – at home, in hospital, and at family gatherings – supplemented by archival records, documents and X-rays. As a school principal in 1970s Agra, her adroit independence and self-reliance now transform; time and life take on a fluid, ephemeral quality. The publication manoeuvres between states of mind and being, moving between past and present, and sharing the challenges and anxieties brought on by Alzheimer’s disease. The images in the book present a portrait of personal struggle and love, dignity and fragility.

Aman Alam is a lens-based visual artist living and working between Bengaluru and Kolkata, with a focus on researching the Anthropocene and the human condition. His practice uses photography, technology, sculpture and installations to examine industrial, ecological, cultural and existential power-systems. Alam has been nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award in 2024 and 2026. He is a recipient of the Serendipity Arles Grant (2025–2026). Works from Ozymandias—including photographs, a conceptual installation and a dummy book—are currently on view in Arles, France, as part of his ongoing solo show at Les Rencontres d’Arles (6 July–4 October 2026).