Anne-Marie Beckmann: We are delighted to add this wonderful and poignant body of work to our Art Collection. Your moving series captures the tension between memory and identity with a visual language that is both intimate and universally resonant. The project builds bridges between the past and the present, revealing your personal family history, connecting it to the culture and history of two countries.

What was the starting point for 'This Isn't Divide and Conquer'?

Aaryan Sinha: There wasn’t a single starting point, just a lot of small things that gradually came together. It shaped itself quite organically. The images came first and, in many ways, informed the concept. At the time, every project I began revolved around one central question: what is the notion of Indian identity? This Isn’t Divide and Conquer was no different. Going into my graduation year at an art academy in the Netherlands, I knew I wanted to make work about India. I was drawn to borders, maps, and this idea of history repeating itself. I kept returning to the regions that bordered Pakistan, places that had witnessed events central to how the nation came to be. My late grandfather’s military past and stories retold by my father became essential in molding the project.

Anne-Marie Beckmann: Can you explain your visual approach to this very complex notion of Indian identity?

Aaryan Sinha: With This Isn’t Divide and Conquer, it’s difficult to define a single visual approach, as the project evolved over several years. The act of photographing remained an ongoing intuitive exploration, and engagement with the land I come from. To quote Tyler the Creator, ‘create like a child, edit like a scientist’. I revisited the images repeatedly over four years, often re-editing them. Working digitally allowed me to crop extensively and reflect on the subtle interventions and quiet observations made during each trip. From the first to the latest edit, the images feel more dark and restrained, intentionally evoking a sense of unease; mirroring my own relationship to the current political climate in India.

This work aims to resist direct illustration or spectacle and focus on the understated, and atmospheric. It was essential to stray away from the clichés and tropes that India represents and represent a version true to my own upbringing. Lastly, a key concern was the anonymity of my subjects: no individual's identity is recognisable. Given the political nature of the work, it was essential that no one be visually implicated in a narrative they haven’t consented to.

Anne-Marie Beckmann: The title of the project refers to the British colonial strategy 'Divide and Conquer'. How do you see this strategy reflected in contemporary Indian society?

Aaryan Sinha: The title of the project indeed has historical connotations. ‘Divide and Conquer’ is a strategy of the British that pitted religious groups against one another. The hope of employing it was to weaken the resistance against the Imperial British Rule. It was a tactic that led to one of the largest forced migrations of people ever: 14 million people were displaced, and over 1 million people were killed. A moment of time that defined generations.

Partition didn’t just divide land; it fractured families, identities, and the very idea of a unified society. It has since led to four India-Pakistan wars and a deep, lingering hostility between the two nations. Seventy-six years later, that same logic of division appears to be at work again. In contemporary India, the ruling right-wing government has systematically polarised communities along religious lines, fueling internal tensions to consolidate power. In many ways, the tactics of ‘Divide and Conquer’ have not disappeared; they have simply been repurposed for a new political agenda, once again putting the fabric of a diverse nation under strain.

Anne-Marie Beckmann: Did working on the project create for you more hope or despair?

Aaryan Sinha: It is a mix of both, but overall I’d lean more toward despair, especially given current the geo-political climate. Still, conversations with people born in Pakistan who had to migrate, offered glimpses of hope. The empathy they expressed toward 'the Other' reminded me that human connection can persist beyond borders and trauma.

Anne-Marie Beckmann: What does it mean for you to be a Foam Talent, and for your work to be acquired by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation?

Aaryan Sinha: It means a lot, honestly. In 2019, I visited Amsterdam for the first time and Foam was the first photography museum I ever stepped into—to see Tyler Mitchell’s I Can Make You Feel Good. I remember turning to my mother and saying, 'One day I’ll show work here.' That became real last year. Being selected as a Foam Talent feels full-circle and being part of a cohort of such strong makers makes it more than just exposure. It’s a real privilege.

It’s an immense honour to have my work acquired by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and something I hold with deep gratitude. To be placed alongside artists whose work I’ve long admired, is not something I take lightly. I’m humbled to be part of such a powerful and timely group of voices.

AARYAN SINHA is a photographer and artist between India and Europe. His work explores the shifting nature of Indian identity within a Western context, engaging with themes of colonialism, personal memory, cultural appropriation, and intergenerational inheritance. Using photography, archival material, and text, Sinha interrogates dominant narratives and visual clichés often imposed on India, striving instead for a more layered and self-aware representation of his homeland.

Sinha’s practice is rooted in the duality of place and perspective. Projects such as Namaste or Whatever investigate the long shadow of colonial photography and how its visual grammar continues to inform both global perceptions and personal understanding of Indian identity. In This Isn’t Divide and Conquer, Sinha journeys through five Indian states bordering Pakistan, reflecting on the scars left by Partition and the resurgence of divisive ideologies in contemporary India.

ANNE-MARIE BECKMANN is a German-French art historian and curator. She is the Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation. Since 1999, she has been curating the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, an international collection of contemporary photography and developing the company's cultural programme. Furthermore, she has been curating photography exhibitions at the headquarters of Deutsche Börse and in several art institutions. She published several photography catalogues, amongst them seven on the Art Collection Deutsche Börse. Anne-Marie is an honorary professor for Photography and Curatorial Practice in the Art School of the University of Art and Design in Offenbach/Main.