Indrani

Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri (www.indrani.com) is an Indian-Canadian photographer, director, and social justice advocate. Believing that artists as myth-makers shape the parameters of the possible, her work explores transformation and the intersection between mythology and reality from diverse perspectives, to inspire social change. Known by the single name Indrani for her “iconic imagery and visionary storytelling” (Huffington Post), she is described as "dynamic...at the crossroads of pop culture and critical acclaim" by the Lincoln Center, as it presents her major retrospective. Indrani’s work has won 27 awards including The Tribeca Film Festival 2019 Disruptors Award, Best Picture and Best Director at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, two Gold Lions at Cannes Festival of Creativity, and Best Film at the CNN 2018 Expose Awards.

While studying Cultural Anthropology at Princeton University, Indrani was discovered and mentored by David Bowie, who commissioned her first album art for Heathen, on loss of faith in the grand narratives, and her directorial debut for his Valentine’s Day, exploring the mind of a high school shooter. Indrani launched Beyonce’s superstar solo debut with her goddess-like image for Dangerously in Love, and memorable work with Lady Gaga, Kate Winslet, Keanu Reeves, Kanye West and many others, including Kim Kardashian in a coffin for Digital Death, raising a million dollars against AIDS in Africa.

“Wielding her visionary work like a weapon, Indrani is using her art and resources for social justice and change,” (Soma Magazine) empowering women, minorities and the LGBTQ community. Born in Calcutta and raised accompanying her mother volunteering with Mother Teresa, as an international teen model-actress, Indrani returned to India to co-found Shakti Empowerment Education Foundation (SEEschool.org) providing education and support to 300 women and children annually. She is Co-Host of the Global People’s Summit during the General Assembly at the United Nations democratizing access to conversations and information that shape the world, a Fellow and Speaker at Women’s Entrepreneurship Day at the UN, and Executive Director of SDG Icons, creating a cultural movement reframing what it means to be an Icon, with the world’s most significant leaders, influencers, and heroes in the field around the 17 SDG Goals at the UN in 2020.

Featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Vanity Fair and VICE, and published in 23 books, her work has been exhibited in museums including the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum, The Center Georges Pompidou, The Rubin Museum of Art, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum at FIT, The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and The Australian Center for the Moving Image. She has created images and commercials for over 300 international brands including Pepsi, Nike, Lancome, and L’Oreal, and her videos have 70 million views online. Regularly interviewed for CNN, HBO, E! News, Showbiz Tonight, she is invited to speak at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Centre Pompidou, Harvard and Princeton University.