Visual Histories of Northeast India: Digitising Anthropological Photographs of Ahmad Hossain

This project includes digitization, metadata creation, and open-access dissemination of anthropological photographs of northeast India by Ahmad Hossain. Hossain is a highly skilled photographer who has had rare access to all eight states of northeast India. His work includes assignments commissioned by public agencies as well as independent photography. On account of his social background, he is a less known figure whose practice has been sustained principally by his passion and a comfortable economic background. Developed between the 1960s—2000s, Hossain's collection depicts the socio-economic and cultural life of northeast India's tribal communities as well as the natural environments of the region. It offers insight into how the life-worlds of the region's under-represented communities have evolved since India's independence, 1947.