Rishi Raj on the relationship between movement, photography and artistic expression
For photographer and trained Bharatanatyam dancer Rishi Raj, the camera offers another way of interpreting movement. Working across dance photography, portraiture, and fashion, his practice reflects an understanding of the body developed through years of classical dance training. Gesture, rhythm, and physical expression inform his compositions, where the precision of a movement becomes inseparable from its emotional intensity. Based in Chennai, Raj approaches photography with the sensitivity of a performer, capturing moments that communicate beyond the visible choreography.
Rishi Raj’s relationship with the arts began at the age of five in Bihar, where he studied Kathak before expanding his training to Bharatanatyam, ballet, and regional folk dances. At sixteen, he moved to Tamil Nadu to study at the Kalakshetra Foundation, one of India’s established institutions for classical performing arts. During his studies, an interest in documenting fellow dancers developed into a parallel creative pursuit. Initially working with a smartphone, he eventually purchased a second-hand camera, beginning a transition from performing movement to observing it through photography. He graduated from Kalakshetra in 2020, carrying the technical knowledge and visual awareness acquired through years of dance training into his photographic practice.
For Rishi Raj, photographing dance involves more than responding to a performance as it happens. His experience as a dancer allows him to anticipate the timing of a gesture, the extension of an arm, or the precise instant when a movement reaches its fullest expression. This familiarity gives his images a sense of intention, even when the subject is captured in an apparently spontaneous moment. The relationship between the photographer and performer is particularly evident in his dance portraits, where bodily alignment, facial expression, and the intricate vocabulary of classical Indian dance contribute to the composition. Each photograph becomes a study of physical discipline and artistic individuality.
Following his graduation, Raj worked as a dance teacher at Isha Foundation Samskriti in Coimbatore before joining a photography and videography studio in Chennai. As commissions from dancers and other performers increased, he established an independent practice dedicated to documenting artistic expression. His growing interest in costume, textiles, jewellery, makeup, and colour eventually led him towards fashion photography. In September 2023, he enrolled in a one-year fashion photography programme at FAD International Academy in Mumbai, studying under photographer Victoria Krundysheva. This additional training provided an opportunity to develop his approach to image-making beyond the conventions of performance photography.
The connection between dance and fashion is particularly relevant to Raj’s photographic identity. Both disciplines depend on an awareness of posture, gesture, costume, and the relationship between the body and its surroundings. In his work, these elements become tools for constructing visual narratives, allowing a portrait to communicate through carefully considered composition and physical expression. His wider portfolio includes projects such as Bidisha, Intoxicated Bee, and People of Chennai, alongside fashion editorials and images documenting Indian cultural traditions. These different subjects reflect a practice interested in the expressive potential of photography across artistic disciplines.
Today, Rishi Raj Studio operates with a five-member team whose backgrounds span dance and other creative fields. The studio continues to work across classical dance, fashion, portraiture, and moving images, maintaining a connection to the performing arts that first inspired its founder. Raj’s transition from dancer to photographer reveals how knowledge acquired through one medium can influence another. His work is distinguished by an understanding of the body not simply as a photographic subject, but as an instrument of expression, capable of communicating movement, character, and emotion within a single image.
All images courtesy of Rishi Raj, shared with permission
