Darshan

Darshan presents a collaboration between American photographer Conor Martin and Indian photographer Vibhav Kapoor. Since 2021, they have developed an artistic camaraderie traveling and working together. The driving principle of their art is the Hindu phenomenon of darshan, which literally means “to see.” A reciprocal act of seeing and being seen, darshan is also the Hindi word for a philosophy that addresses insight as the immanent source of experience and knowledge. This idea transcends Hindu culture, becoming the ethos guiding Kapoor and Martin’s shared photographic purpose. To them, life itself is an endless source of inspiration to make resounding dramatic photographs. 

In 2023, they traveled across the Indian subcontinent to photograph the Jyotirlingams, twelve ancient temples dedicated to Shiva. They were compelled to document sites of religious pilgrimage, using them as a lens to record cultural and economic realities across the country. In 2025, they documented the Maha Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest public gathering which takes place in a temporary city erected to accommodate hundreds of millions of visitors on the flood plains of the Ganges River. These two photographers work with historic traditions to examine contemporary culture, sharing perspectives, ideas, and often even a camera. Their working process has been a mutual education through the act of seeing, resulting in a record of contemporary India through their combined sensibility and unique worldviews.

Artists: Vibhav Kapoor and Conor Martin