Villa Ruffieux Residency – Sierre, Switzerland (2021)

I was selected through an open call for a month-long residency at Villa Ruffieux, where I undertook a comparative, place-responsive exploration of mountain life in the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps. The residency marked my induction into a slow, intuitive working process—one that prioritised listening, presence, and emotional resonance over predetermined outcomes.

The project began in the Himalayan villages of Himachal Pradesh, where I documented everyday life in remote mountain communities. Continuing the same process in Switzerland, I explored how different mountain landscapes evoke distinct yet interconnected emotional and cultural responses. Rather than drawing explicit comparisons or descriptions, the work focused on the shared sensibilities of mountain life—silence, rhythm, isolation, and intimacy with nature.

The residency culminated in an internal screening at Villa Ruffieux, where audiences experienced poetic video essays from both regions together. This residency played a formative role in shaping my practice, moving it toward observational, affect-driven storytelling and away from linear or explanatory documentary structures.

United Nations, Geneva (2018)

I was invited to present my film With Grace at the United Nations in Geneva as part of a curated showcase of winning films from the Lampa Film Festival, Russia, where the film received an award. The screening was organised on International Volunteers’ Day and focused on socially engaged cinema that foregrounds stories of social commitment and everyday heroism.

The invitation placed With Grace within a global context of films addressing community, care, and social responsibility. Participating in the showcase reaffirmed my commitment to socially rooted storytelling and highlighted the role of documentary cinema in amplifying quiet, lived acts of service and resilience.

Dutch Design Week – Eindhoven, Netherlands (2017)

I was an invited participant at Dutch Design Week as part of the 100 Days of Learning programme, an initiative that selected 100 practitioners to design learning experiences across the world. My project, Design Your Breath, Design Your Life, emerged from a week-long breath awareness workshop conducted with Buddhist nuns in Spiti, India rooted in embodied learning, attention, and presence.

Out of the 100 projects developed across the programme, 20 were invited to be presented at Dutch Design Week. In Eindhoven, I adapted and facilitated the workshop for an international audience, translating an intimate, place-based practice into a shared participatory experience within a design context.

This experience expanded my understanding of design as a process of shaping attention and lived experience rather than objects. It reinforced my interest in participatory formats, collective presence, and the subtle intersections between spirituality, everyday practice, and design-led thinking.