Zayira Ray

𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐑𝐒🌹 Coming Soon✨ A behind-the-scenes look at a month-long celebration of Women’s History Month🌹 This very special project that we all came together for, shot & directed by @zay.ira 📸, highlights the women who have paved the way for us 🌞 redefining art, culture, roots & resistance 🌹 Through intimate portraits and narratives, the series unveils each artist’s journey🌷 reflecting on their experiences as women challenging patriarchal systems in the art world, reclaiming honor in crafts, preserving culture, and more ✨🪷 Join us throughout the month as we celebrate these fearless, legendary artists and the paths they’ve forged for future generations🌷Coming soon on our blog🌞 Shop @nobordersinhouse handmade pieces online🌞 @nilofersuleman @tharanginistudio @lathaputtanna @magic_thread_embroidery 💕

Introducing my new website, brilliantly designed by Kai Chong (@kaai.design ) a Singaporean web designer based in Berlin, and a dear friend of mine. Kai’s background in both visual storytelling and communication design brings a photographer’s eye to the web: blending strategy-led design, impactful imagery, and intuitive interaction. If you want your own handcrafted site (and I know you do!) @kaai.design is available worldwide🪄 Over the years, my relationship to my website has been strained: creating a cohesive, polished site that represents the full scope of my portfolio has always felt like a daunting task with no finish line in sight. But Kai’s skillful and fresh perspective, coupled with his wizardly creative intuition, was what made my dream website come to life— and yes, we crossed the finish line! Most of all, I deeply appreciate the way Kai observed and translated my work with intention and precision, every step of the way. The motto we came up with — “being photographed is being vulnerable”— seeped into every step of the creative process, and it was genuinely so cool to see design + photography dance together so beautifully. If you want to read more about the new website, I will be breaking down Kai and I’s collaborative process in my new Substack, which you can subscribe to in my bio :) I hope to see you there🤎

On Wednesday night, Indian-American photographer Zayira Ray opened her first solo art exhibition, ‘interthread’, at Baxter St Gallery (@baxterstccny ) in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Rooted in themes of kinship, belonging, and love, ‘interthread’ is an intimate, multimedia exploration of portraiture. The work takes on a life of its own as stories of diasporic movement intertwine, layer, and connect with one another. @zay.ira also made her debut into filmmaking with a short documentary offering a behind-the-scenes narrative into the creation of a tapestry crafted by eight Palestinian women. The final piece is a part of the exhibition, along with the artist’s film. ‘interthread’ builds on ‘Brown Love’, Zayira’s portrait series that she explored through a community photobooth during our event in New York last October. Zayira’s latest work captures tenderness within Brown communities, offering narratives of sanctity, intimacy, and joy. ‘interthread’ is on display at 126 Baxter St in New York until April 27th.

below Howrah Bridge, 2026

eid 🩷🌠

This week, we’re celebrating women in photography. Each day until March 8, we’re featuring one of the seven selected artists from our International Women’s Day Open Call. Today's post is from @zay.ira Zayira Ray (b. 2000, New York City) is an Indian-American, NYC-based portrait photographer and artist. Rooted in themes of love, community, and belonging, Ray’s portraits span culture, religion, and socioeconomic strata, highlighting diverse and soulful visual stories from all walks of life. Her commitment to exploring the un-represented, the under-represented, and the mis-represented has led to the creation of arresting and ethereal portraits, devoid of convention and rich with a vivid wonder. "interthread" is a collection of documentary portraiture that reimagines the photographic backdrop as a nomadic sanctuary and site of collective care: a physical safe space that exists free from the burdens of the exterior world. Traveling from photo studios in New York City to rooftops in New Delhi, the hand-painted canvases connect sitters across generations and national origins. Centering women and their bonds, the work explores belonging, solidarity, and love in its many forms. From a self-portrait of my mother oiling my hair, to identical twins navigating queerness together within the fashion industry, to my grandmother holding a photograph of herself and her sisters as teenagers as the only surviving sister, the photographs dwell in moments of shared intimacy, reconciling with what is lost in migration while honoring the interconnectedness of shared experience. Check out all the selected artists on the Fotografiska Emerging Platform via our link in bio. Thank you to everyone who submitted. The response was incredible and full of powerful work. We could only choose seven artists this time, but we hope you'll keep submitting to our upcoming Open Calls.

goats being goats 🐐🍃🪾🇮🇳

Moving portraits of evergreen Kerala 🌱

The father-daughter collab of my dreams! My dear friend @samfalb asked me to photograph my one-of-a-kind dad and his eccentric collection for @cultured_mag in my childhood home (which I moved back into recently!). This was a fun one. Article link in stories 💫

@zay.ira here on the last day of my #wpatakeover. Revisiting “Zameen”: a project I still find myself obsessing over, made in collaboration with Misha Japanwala (@mishajapanwala ) and Aradhita Parasrampuria (@aradhitapara ). “Zameen” is a physical exploration of what it means to view and honour our bodies as natural vessels. Sculptures of the body take form as networks of mycelium (the root-like structures of fungi which grow from inoculated straw) branch into vast, interconnected webs, forming the shapes of breasts, the curves of the back and stomach, nipples, belly buttons, and hands. The mycelium body pieces for the Zameen took Parasrampuria about 14 days to “grow” individually. These structures, emulating the exact texture, shape, and detail of the body, will remain alive throughout their life cycle. They will continue to adjust, grow, and change. The pieces are completely biodegradable and will help nourish the soil once discarded, these sculptural bodies birthing new life, just as our real bodies do. “Zameen” was published as a print spread in Vogue India’s Body and Soul issue in 2021. #wpanyc #wpatakeover

Hi again from @zay.ira 🤎 “interthread” is my longest body of work and is still ongoing. At the heart of the project is the hand-painted backdrop: I re-imagine the traditional photographic backdrop as a nomadic sanctuary; a connective tissue that can connect diasporic love stories between time and space. This is the work closest to my heart. 1. “Shainon” 2. BTS with @mannatsirat , assisted by @momotakahashi 3. “Twins: Mannat and Sirat” 4. “Himalini, Himanshu, and Santayan” 5. “Myself and Mama” with original painted canvas 6. “Shenny and Freny” 7. Photographing the four generations of mothers and daughters from my paternal family, in Kolkata, India 8. “Four Generations” 9. “Alvina and Iman” 10. “interthread: Palestine Tapestry Project” 11. “Vikki and Evangeline” 12. Installation image by @lloyd_mccullough of the “interthread” solo exhibition at @baxterstccny , 2024 #wpanyc #wpatakeover

Zayira @zay.ira here 🫶🏽 thank you, WPA, for the opportunity to share my photographs over the next three days. I’m looking forward to revisiting the visual stories that have shaped my practice, and sharing some new images too. Here is a first peek into my world 🤎 #wpanyc #wpatakeover 1 - photograph for @muhajibaa , 2025 2- “Zameen” for Vogue India, in collaboration with @mishajapanwala and @aradhitapara , 2021 3- portrait of @nycxclothes in their studio, 2023 4- photograph from @shopinkloo launch campaign, 2020 5- portrait of @sobia93 in custom @mishajapanwala , 2024 6- “interthread - Maya and Sujata” 2022 7- beauty shot for Teen Vogue “dear habibti” editorial, 2024 8- portrait of Nilofer Suleman in collaboration with @nobordersshop , 2025 9- photograph for “Qasr” by @sheherazaadofficial , 2023 10- still life of Topographies by @mishajapanwala , 2024 11- portrait of Arati Rao @tantuvi with her rugs, for Architectural Digest India, 2023 12- beauty shot of @mecca_allah for Goshwara jewelry campaign, 2022 13- portrait of @mishajapanwala for Vogue, 2021 14- photograph from “Camp Cosmos”, 2021 15- image from my first ever body of work, “Twins”, 2019 16- “Youthquake” for Vogue India, 2022 17- portrait for @beghairatstudio , 2024 18- Self portrait for Vogue India, 2025