Papertrail is our shared love for photobooks, artists, curators and independent publishers working with the book form. As the world remains increasingly connected and aware through photography and its various forms, CPB Learning Lab and many friends from across India have come together to open up their libraries, reading rooms and photobook collections for you in the form of reading room pop-ups and events to explore and engage with some fantastic works.

CPB Learning Lab, Chennai 

28 August - 3 September

A Photobook is a relationship. As photography evolved from being evidence of an event to becoming a universal language of expression and communication. In these virtual times, we continue to believe in the book form as a way of having a relationship with the artist, their thought process and their work. The book allowed for the image to expand its dimensions and speak to its context. Many books are like experiments that offer the reader/viewer to engage with its playful form as well and thereby allowing the book to be more than a book and the image to be more than an image. At the CPB Learning Lab, our reading room invites you to come explore and get inspired by our diverse collection of artist works from across the world.

Timings: 11 am - 6 pm

Venue: CPB Foundation, Adyar

Registration link: https://forms.gle/j7jGAu6z9WsDWJvW7 

For queries reach out to contact@chennaiphotobiennale.com

Ramesh PK: +91 6383135139

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Confluence Collective, Kalimpong

28 August - 3 September

The Confluence Collective has put together a collection of photo books from our own personal collection and generous contributions from friends, colleagues and well-wishers. Through the library we want to foster engaging conversations and encourage a culture of dialogue around the visual medium as a form of creative expression. A key idea is also to create a ‘safe space’ for community building and growing together, where each of us feels a part of our own stories and histories in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalayas. We also hope that through this small initiative, we can revive the fading concept of a Library in the Hills.

Timings: 11am - 7pm 

Capacity - 20 visitors per day

Venue - CaféKalimpong, Kalimpong

Registration: Walk in

For queries reach out to mail@theconfluencecollective.com  

Ashwin: +91 7407727785

Praveen: +91 9733185815

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Editions Jojo, Mumbai 

Hosted by G5A, Mumbai 

20 August - 28 August 

Editions JOJO is the publishing alias of visual artist Kaamna Patel. It’s extension, the JOJO Library is a free & publicly accessible photobook library housing over 300 titles from around the world. The library was started in 2015 by the BIND collective and the books have been acquired by the efforts of its founder as well as contributions from institutions, publishers, artists and individual donors. The books housed in the library belong to the community and provide access to these photobooks as an important resource for researchers but also as a meeting point and launchpad for contemporary creative practices in the region. 

Timings: 11am - 7pm

Venue: G5A warehouse, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Registration: Walk in  

For queries reach out to info@g5afoundation.org 

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Evolve Library, Chennai 

30 August - 5 September 

Ideas don't come from the blue. They come from a series of questions and through the attempts made in answering them. One such idea was starting a library by the team at Studio A. A space for all creative professionals, students or just anyone inclined towards art. The genesis of the idea to create a library spurred from the conversations that they at StudioA had with their students. Being part of the evolving community, teaching and learning through their workshops at StudioA, they understood the need for students to get to know artists and photographers around the world and throughout history.

Details and registration: evolvelibrary

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Feni Bar, Goa 

30 August - 5 September 

The Feni Bar library is a combined private collection of two artists, @lecercle and @avanitanya who love (and sometimes make their own) photo books and believe in free and open access. They have some rare photo books, collected over two decades, and are happy to share what they have.

Details and registration: feni.bar 

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Museo Camera, Gurugram 

28 August - 5 September

The Museo Camera library is a space for people to come and read about the art, science and history of Photography. With a collection of over 1000 books (and growing!) Our collection has books by well known authors and photographers like Mary Ellen Mark, John Berger, Cyanthia Young and Susan Sontang among others. The Library at Museo is a reading room as opposed to a lending library and has grown out from the personal collection of the founder, Director of Museo, Aditya Arya. Eminent photographers like Dinesh Khanna have also contributed their personal collections to the Museo library. 

Timings: 11.30am - 7pm

Mondays are closed. Capacity - 3 visitors per day 

Venue - Museo Camera Centre for the Photographic Arts, Gurugram 

Registration: Walk in

For queries write to contact@museocamera.org

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Naushad Ali, Pondicherry

28 August - 3 September

Naushad Ali is a designer with minimalist inclinations, he believes in revisiting designs to adapt more than to add. He fosters a deep love of Indian traditions and crafts, creating designs that bring together modern cuts and heritage fabrics. He challenges himself with new designs and techniques through every collection, reliving the history of culture by reviving its traditional fabrics and sustaining its practitioners. His flagship store in Pondicherry is a reflection of the brand itself with clean and contemporary interiors. Other than the brand’s collection, the store also hosts young talents from all across India in design, pottery, accessories, collectibles and much more. 

Timings: 11 AM – 8 PM

Tuesdays are closed. Capacity - 3 visitors per day

Venue: Naushad Ali Store, Pondicherry 

Registration: Write to contact@naushadali.in Or can Whatsapp at 9655488288 with details of no. of people and the time you wish to visit. 

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Offset Projects, New Delhi

Hosted by Serendipity Arts, New Delhi 

28 August - 5 September 

The Offset Pitara is a travelling library of curated photo-books, offering diverse visual voices in photography from South Asia and beyond. Representing works ranging from young practitioners to experienced artists, bookmakers and authors, the library has been conceived as a resource space for photographers, researchers and those interested in the visual media. The Pitara extends Offset's vision to create interventions and methods of expanding the visual as language in the larger consciousness of people. Through engagements with the book, our aim is to renegotiate the role of photography in our perception of the world, with the purpose of making story-telling through photography accessible to readers outside of the visual world. Our growing collection of books are put together with thought and care to include a range of subjects in story-telling as well as the changes and growth of photography in the book form.

Details and registration: https://serendipityarts.org 

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Rangjyot, Ahmedabad

31 August - 4 September

The team at Rangjyot are practicing photographers turned into print makers because we struggled to get good prints made of our work. Period. They decided to take the challenge and sail the stormy waters of the digital printing process ourselves. They are primarily focused on fine art / photographic ink-jet prints (Giclee ́ prints, if you prefer fancy words) on presentation grade or archival grade papers. While their primary interest was and has been photographic printing, they have worked with painters, sculptors, graphic designers and other visual artists alike to help them reproduce their work.

Venue: Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad

Timings: 1.30pm - 5.30pm

Capacity: 8-10 visitors per day

Registration: Walk in 

For queries write to rangjyot@navajivantrust.org

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Reliable Copy, Bengaluru

Hosted by 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery

17 September - 3 October 

Reliable Copy is a publishing and curatorial practice dedicated to the realisation and circulation of works, projects, and writing by, and around, artists. Reliable Copy is based in Bangalore, India and was founded in 2018. It is represented by Nihaal Faizal and Sarasija Subramanian.

 Venue: 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery, Bengaluru

Timings: 11 am - 7 pm

Registration: Walk in

Details: https://reliablecopy.org/at-the-kitchen-table

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Serendipity Arts, New Delhi 

Hosting Offset Projects and Yaarbal Books 

28 August - 5 September 

 Serendipity Arts is a space for arts and cultural development which aims to promote new creative strategies, artistic interventions, and cultural partnerships which are responsive to social, cultural, and environmental dialogues. Committed to innovation, sustainability and technology, SAF supports, promotes, and creates platforms for innovation, providing the wider public with a unique cultural and historical source of modern and contemporary art and culture.

Details and registration: https://serendipityarts.org 

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Yaarbal Books, New Delhi 

Hosted by Serendipity Arts 

28 August - 5 September 

Yaarbal Books is an independent publishing house based in New Delhi, India.

It takes its name from a Kashmiri language word for the riverbank, and suggests a place of conviviality, where conversations can take place. The logo, a bold Y integrated with a slingshot, is a fair representation of its intentions: both resourceful and resolute, at once toy and weapon. It also stands in for a commitment to swim against the tides of power, commerce, and conformity. Yaarbal is an imprint of New Delhi based Octave Communications, a production house with a three decade long track record in documentary film and television, and headed by film-maker and writer Sanjay Kak.

 Details and registration: https://serendipityarts.org 

Yaarbal Books, New Delhi 

Hosted by Serendipity Arts 

28 August - 5 September 

Yaarbal Books is an independent publishing house based in New Delhi, India.

It takes its name from a Kashmiri language word for the riverbank, and suggests a place of conviviality, where conversations can take place. The logo, a bold Y integrated with a slingshot, is a fair representation of its intentions: both resourceful and resolute, at once toy and weapon. It also stands in for a commitment to swim against the tides of power, commerce, and conformity. Yaarbal is an imprint of New Delhi based Octave Communications, a production house with a three decade long track record in documentary film and television, and headed by film-maker and writer Sanjay Kak.

 Details and registration: https://serendipityarts.org