Pubarun BASU (b. 2001) is an Indian Documentary Photographer, Researcher, and Cultural Storyteller whose work explores environmental change, cultural memory, and human relationships with rivers and landscapes. He became the first Indian to receive the Sony World Photography Awards’ Youth Photographer of the Year title in 2021 and was later recognized in the Arts category of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia. He has also spoken at TEDx on photography, memory, and environmental storytelling.
At the center of his practice is a long-term visual ethnography of the river Ganga, supported by National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy. Through photography, oral histories, and research, he documents riverine ecologies, spiritual traditions, and the impact of climate-induced displacement across erosion-prone communities in eastern India. His work on the aftermath of the Farakka Barrage examines environmental migration, changing identities, and fragile island settlements, with photographs exhibited at the United Nations Headquarters and featured in publications including BBC, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.
Pubarun currently leads media and storytelling initiatives at AshokaX and co-leads the Beyond Climate Collaborative Media Lab. He founded Dhara, a youth-led environmental storytelling collective that has engaged over 2,000 students across India in documenting local water and climate issues.