Isolde Brielmaier: I am sparkling: N.V. Parekh & His Portrait Studio Mombasa, Kenya 1940-1980

N.V. Parekh was an influential Indian-born portrait photographer whose studio, located in Mombasa in the 20th-century, attracted clients from East Africa and beyond. I Am Sparkling: N. V. Parekh and His Portrait Studio Clients—Mombasa, Kenya 1940 to 1980 is a discrete examination of an historically-significant artist and his distinct clientele; and the temporal, geographical, and cultural milieu in which their collaborations flourished. The manuscript is based on a rarely accessed photographic archive and is complemented by extensive interviews with Parekh’s diverse clientele, with a particular focus on women as clients of studio photographers.

About the Author :
Isolde Brielmaier is Deputy Director at the New Museum, Curator-at-Large at the International Center for Photography (ICP) in NYC, and Professor of Critical Studies in Tisch's Department of Photography, Imaging and Emerging Media at New York University. Other curatorial roles include six years as Executive Director and Curator of Arts, Culture & Community at Westfield World Trade Centre, and her current position as national advisor for Unbail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), a role in which she advises on artist projects and installations, cultural events, and strategic and community partnerships across the organization. She is also Editor at Large at Air Mail, Graydon Carter's new media venture. Her publishing record is extensive, consisting of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and dozens of catalogue essays. She recently edited and wrote an essay for the anthology, "Culture as Catalyst: Visual Culture & Social Issues" (Skidmore College/ Tang Museum Press, 2020), and is working on a co-edited volume of portraits and interviews with contemporary Black artists with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Review :
Her fieldwork approach, common in other areas of the humanities but rare in the history of photography, yields extraordinary insights.--Brian Wallis "Aperture" I Am Sparkling is remarkable for its extensive interviews with Parekh and his family, but also for Brielmaier's deep research.--Mallory Cohen "Hyperallergic" The element of performance is integral to photographer N.V. Parekh's work, as sitters were free to imagine their identities beyond the traditional markers of class, religion, status, gender, and ethnicity.--Sara Rosen "Blind" Offers a counter-narrative to engaging with African photographic archives as well as photographic histories at large.--Noa Wynn "Brooklyn Rail" Parekh saw his clients as they wanted to be seen. With them, he imagined new worlds and identities...There is power in this collaboration between sitter and photographer, and unadulterated joy, too.--M.Z. Adnan "New Yorker"