Manoo Sirivelu

KUT Fest for @kut_austin !!! Thanks to @dycannon for the call and the wonderful team that shot alongside me 🫶

I’ve had the honor of working with @dardensmithmusic for two years on the Longhorn Songscape, and for two years I have been blown away by his ability to sit down with someone, ask the right questions, and transform what they share into a song that is unmistakably theirs. I genuinely did not believe the human mind was capable of work this beautiful, this specific, and this empathetic - and he has left me in awe with every single song.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ I’ve only just realized the similarities that his process and my own process of portraiture share, though mine is more passive. We both ask questions about struggle and achievement, and we both try to create something with our subject, not just of them, that represents who they truly are.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ This year Darden sat down with 8 UT Austin students for a series of 90-minute collaborative songwriting sessions based around the participants’ experiences in military life. “Each of the students was either active duty, a veteran or the child of a military veteran. The songs are the reflection of their lives and their time in service. The lyrics of the songs came directly from their words and stories. Each song is a collaboration that reflects the power and truth in their experiences and the possibilities of the arts to create awareness and understanding in everyday life.” Thanks to @adamelayan.words for his own interviews and profiles he’s written about the students. Thanks to @audreypiczak , Darden’s assistant and project manager, for organizing my shoots and streamlining the process. Thanks to @dardensmithmusic for trusting me to capture the portraits of these amazing people year after year and making all of this possible. And finally thanks to @raythompsonjrphoto for believing in my work and providing me with the opportunities to exercise my passion. Images: 1-2 Karen Polson 3-4 Chris-Enrique Vega 5-6 Leah Valdez 7-8 Randall Bittner 9-10 Annalisa Calica 11-12 Johanna Wynne 13-14 Keiana Moore 15-16 Joshua Camenzind 17-18 Darden Smith and the Longhorn Songscape

@manoosirivelu here for my last day of the takeover! Thank you so much to @map6collective and @leia_ankers for this opportunity to share my work 🙏 Today’s set are images taken along the Vande Bharat Express. I shot this short project during 2 extended train rides through South India traveling between my mother’s and father’s home cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad. Thanks for having me 🫶

Hi again! It’s @manoosirivelu for the 4th day of the takeover! These images are from a project from not so long ago, during last year’s @eddieadamsworkshop . I spent two days with Dottie Hartz and learnt so much about her and the small but wonderful town of Callicoon, New York! Dottie is a local genealogy expert. Living in Callicoon all her life, she has a developed an incredible understanding of the people and community through exploring her family archives. These are some pictures taken during my time with her, in her home and walking along the town’s annual art walk. Thank you to @heather_casey , @kianahayeri , @emilykenny.photo and @idrissolomon for the opportunity and helping put this together!

@manoosirivelu here for day 3! Today I am sharing images from “Boots, bulls and breakups: A gay cowboy’s wild Texas ride,” a story I worked on for the @statesman with @a_sullivan512 last year! Here are some of Aaron’s words: “It’s hard to believe Contratto has only been riding steers for one year. He’s everything you would imagine a cowboy to be: handsome, soft-spoken and thoughtful. He’s got the look to back up his pensive demeanor — boot-clad, belt-buckled and mustached. It would be easy to assume he was a character from a country song, Texas-born-and-raised.” Check out our full article at: /story/entertainment/2025/06/26/boots-bulls-and-breakups-a-gay-cowboy-s-wild-texas-ride/84367699007/

@manoosirivelu here again! Home is Where You Moor It is a project I started in 2024 during a study abroad to Ireland and I have since returned this last summer to continue coverage. Still got thousands of pictures to go through! Every May, from across Ireland, liveaboards—people who maintain a boat as their primary residence—journey on waterways to reach Dublin’s Grand Canal Docks. Their tight-knit community shares a reverence for nature and independent thought. Choosing life on the water has deep roots in Ireland. Although today’s liveaboard communities draw from this tradition, their reasons for choosing this housing alternative are also a response to the specific issues of our times. Some are committed to downsizing for ecological sustainability. Others find it an affordable option in Ireland’s decades-long housing crisis. Every year, the Dublin Rally is a community-wide celebration. Now however, it’s also a time of advocacy by the houseboat owners. If the new Waterways Ireland bylaws are implemented, high increases to mooring fees and more restrictive regulations will threaten the affordability the community of families, elders and students depend on. The current €278 mooring permit cost would rise even for sites without urban serviced mooring options for water and sewage pump out. Those who have such amenities face increases to €4,000 or €7,500. Those without services could still see their permits triple or more. Housing advocates compare the proposed increases to forced eviction, at a time when housing costs have pushed Irish homelessness to record highs.

Hey everyone! I’m @manoosirivelu and I’ll be posting my work here for the next five days. I am incredibly grateful to @map6collective and @leia_ankers for inviting me to share my work alongside so many amazing artists. Please feel free to reach out with any comments or questions! This first set is an ongoing project from 2024 titled “Becoming, Belonging.” I’ve always struggled with the contradictory nature of my identity and experiences. The spaces I grew up in changed faster than I could understand them. My values and responsibilities have been strengthened, destroyed, and reformed by so many people and places that make home. From my grandparents in India, who see me as the last bearer of our family name, to my parents, who continue to balance modernity and tradition; from classmates at a rural Indian boarding school to the friends I’ve made during my time in the United States, these relationships have formed the ground I stand on. These perspectives have shaped, and often conflicted with, my developing sense of self. As a result, I have constantly questioned what freedoms we allow ourselves in expression, and what limits we impose. As I continue to find my place in the world, I’m learning to embrace these contradictions, to see them as proof of a life shaped by many worlds, and to find confidence and love for all the elements that make me, me. These selects are part of an ongoing process of understanding as I continue to develop this project 🫶

We’re delighted to have Manoo Sirivelu as our next Guest Takeover @manoosirivelu Manoo Sirivelu is a documentary photographer and journalist based in Austin, Texas. Bridging his Indian upbringing and broader global perspectives, his work centers on community and belonging, examining how people sustain collective bonds and protect ways of life amid displacement and division. Through editorial assignments and long-term documentary projects, he explores how shared identity is shaped through care, resistance, and commitment to place.

Protesters gather at the Texas Capitol in solidarity with demonstrators across the U.S. during a nationwide shutdown calling for accountability and an end to aggressive tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026. For @texas_tribune

Blamed for the nation’s historic measles outbreak, West Texas Mennonites have hardened their views on vaccines - for the @texas_tribune I photographed for this story by the amazing @lindseybyman.reports in the aftermath of a measles outbreak that reshaped how the Seminole Mennonite community was seen, and how it saw itself. Much of my work covers the moments in between: worship, work, care and waiting, as life moved onward under a national spotlight. So grateful to all the people who allowed us to spend time with them and shared their stories. This was my final story during the first term of my fellowship at the Texas Tribune and I had the opportunity to participate in the edit as well. Please check out the full article at the link in my bio! Thank you so much to @puyinghuang , @edd.gaspar , @johnroyaljordan and @shelby_tauber for all I’ve learned, your time, patience and willingness to let me try new things 🫶

Austin’s Santa @samuel_grey_horse for @kut_austin !

Some spares from Europe before we’re there again