Arpita Shah is a photographic artist based in Eastbourne, UK. She works between photography and film, exploring the fields where culture and identity meet.
As an India-born artist, Shah spent an earlier part of her life living between India, Ireland and the Middle East before settling in the UK. This migratory experience is reflected in her practice, which focuses on the notion of home, belonging and shifting cultural identities.
Shah’s work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, including at the Detroit Center of Contemporary Photography (2013); Tramway in Glasgow (2014); Chobi Mela IX in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2017); Autograph APB in London (2018) Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow (2019) Harbour Front Centre in Toronto (2019), Impressions Gallery in Bradford (2020), the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne (2021) the Centre for British Photography (2023) and Belfast Expose in 2025. Her work is held in collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, Autograph ABP, Light Work (USA), Institute for Art Documentation (Germany), The Hyman Collection, Parliamentary Art Collection and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
Her previous commissions include Creative Scotland (2014) to develop new work for the Commonwealth Games collaborating with culturally diverse families across Scotland, An Lanntair (2017) on her project ‘Copan Chai’ which explored the oral histories of Asian Hebrideans in the Isle of Lewis and Harris, and GRAIN (2019) for her project ‘Modern Muse’ which is a series of portraits exploring British Asian female identity across the West Midlands.Most recently, she created Sankofa, commissioned by the GAIA Foundation as part of the major nationwide environmental storytelling project We Feed the UK.
Shah has been featured in The Guardian as one of seven groundbreaking female photographers from around the world. Her work has also been published in Harper’s Bazaar India, Black Flash Magazine, the Financial Times, PIX Quarterly, The Times, 1000 Words Photography Magazine and Art Journal, published by the College Art Association of America