Event Details

What if photography wasn’t simply a way of recording history, but a force that shaped it?

The NCPA presents Mänk’áčen, an internationally acclaimed exhibition by Chilean artist and researcher Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo. Presented on the occasion of the Bicentennial of Photography (2026–27), it explores the camera’s arrival in South America and India and examines how the technology indelibly shaped the way people, cultures and histories came to be seen.

Through historical photographs, field notes and archives, museum collections and immersive installations, the exhibition reveals photography to have been more than a neutral tool of documentation. It becomes a lens through which questions of power, memory, identity and representation are explored, inviting visitors to look beyond the image and rethink the stories it tells.

Thought-provoking and visually compelling, Mänk’áčen is an exhibition for photographers, artists, historians, students and anyone curious about the stories that images carry long after they were made.

🎫 Mänk’áčen by Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo

About the Artist

Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo is a Chilean artist and researcher based in Paris, whose work lies at the intersection of artistic research, curatorial practice, and education. He holds a PhD in Photography from the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie (ENSP).

His research focuses on the genesis of the camera as a technical object in South America, envisioning it as a sacred box with mystical mechanics. In his thesis Mänk’áčen, he explores the complex relationship between the invention of photography and the evolving decolonial landscape of the 21st century.

As a curator, he has organised major exhibitions such as Mapuche at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, as well as Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation and Geometric Forests, both premiered at the Rencontres d’Arles among many others. He mentors emerging photographers at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg and at the ENSP in France.

Sub Events:

Artist Walkthrough on 19th August with Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo
🚶‍♀️ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
📍 Dilip Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA

Talk on 19th August – The Ghost of the Archive with Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo & Tanvi Mishra
⏰ 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
📍 Dilip Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA

Artist Walkthrough on 21st August with Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo 
🚶‍♀️ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
📍 Dilip Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA

Register now.