Artists are a vehicle for expressing universal emotion

Sankalp Shukla

Living life at mercy of words with deeply embedded imagination, Sankalp Pradeep Shukla hopes that the hidden mysteries embellished with moments justify his life as light is thrown on the unread pages of his journey.

A State Level Creative writing awardee for his first published poetry book in 2004 by Governor of West Bengal and Kapil Dev at The Telegraph in Schools Award function was the beginning of the glorious journey of his life. Rest is history.

Inclination towards social and sensitive issues pertaining to the society made him opt for graduating in journalism post which he worked for Times of India Kolkata edition. The power of words made him inclined towards visual communication and the journey of photography started. Within few months he started filing his stories with his own clicked pictures. The confidence grew and slowly and gradually his photography work started getting published across India. He later completed his master's from Xaviers Mumbai in Public Relations and Corporate Communications.

He has two Hindi poetry books published titled Mihika and Mahekti Dharohar. His two more books are in pipeline for publishing in a couple of years. He credits his mother for his poetry talent. His writings are a reflection of society. He is an acclaimed photographer too.

His photography series on "Silence depicted through body language" won the Best Photography prize at the Rome International Movie Awards 2021; an IMDb listed festival celebrating films and photography from all across the world. The film festival accoladed various films from the USA, Sweden, Germany, UAE, Japan, UK, France but Sankalp's work from India was the only project to have won in the photography category. His photography works have been exhibited in Louvre Museum Paris, London, Moscow, New York, Italy, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles, and many galleries in India. Winner of Sar Icon Awards 2021 for photography, his work has been selected in Coffee Table books.

Sankalp believes that artists are a vehicle for expressing universal emotion. Creative thinkers and artists must provide their communities joy, interaction, inspiration, and also give thoughtful critique to political, economic and social systems - pushing communities to engage thoughtfully and make steps towards social progress.

He credits his wife Mansi for all the good happenings in his life who is also a World Records holder and National Level winner in abstract painting.