Sarmaya – 36 Days of Type

Sarmaya is a museum with a collection that represents the diverse histories and artistic traditions of the Subcontinent. The archive is based in Mumbai, India.

For @36daysoftype in the 2022 edition, we hand-painted photos from our collection.

Photography gained so much popularity in India so quickly that not long after its arrival here in the mid-1800s, photo studios sprang up all over the country. But where a new industry was taking root, a traditional one was floundering. Court painters who relied on royal patrons for portrait commissions began to lose work to photographers. Amid this existential crisis, a new collaboration was born. The artists couldn’t beat the photographers, so they joined ’em; soon, miniature painters began to find work at photo studios as colourists.

Design credits: Pavitra Rajaram, Tanish Malji, Rukaiya Lokhandwala, Gaurav Ogale