Hi! I am Harshal Desai.
I’m an interdisciplinary photographer and artist with a focus on the delicate interplay between nature, built environments, and the human journey. By using photography as my visual medium, I explore themes of migration, memory, and the profound connections that shape our understanding of identity and the spaces we inhabit.
Bio
Harshal Desai is an entrepreneur, visual artist, and multimedia designer. His work concentrates on varied factors of the micro, macro, and in-between around us including ecosystems and architecture. His interdisciplinary work has been published in National Geographic, THREADS 2024 by the Saskatoon Open Door Society, Existere, Indianapolis Review, Shanghai Literary Review, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal and elsewhere. He is one of the founding editors of Parentheses Journal. He is currently working on projects which trace his first-generation immigrant experience in North America.
Artist Statement
Photography, for me, is a quiet meditation of the ephemeral nature of time. Each image I create is a meditation on the fleeting, an attempt to hold still the moments that brush past us in silence. I am drawn to the world’s subtleties – the delicate balance of nature, the quiet strength of architecture, the fragile dance between light and shadow. My work seeks to uncover the sacred in the everyday, to find poetry in the seemingly mundane.
In the natural world, I find an endless source of inspiration and reflection. The intricate patterns on a butterfly’s wing, the relentless power of a thunderstorm breaking over a city—these are not just subjects for my lens but metaphors for the human condition. Each photograph is a silent narrative, capturing these moments before they dissolve into memory. Architecture, in my eyes, is a testament to human aspiration and endurance. Whether I’m capturing the timeless elegance of ancient temples or the sleek lines of modern skyscrapers, I approach these structures as living entities—repositories of stories, ambitions, and dreams. Through my lens, these buildings are not just inanimate objects; they are vibrant, breathing entities, shaped by the lives that inhabit them, marked by the passage of time.
Wildlife photography is where I confront the primal, the untamed. The photographs are less about the animals themselves and more about the existential connection between all living beings. There’s a raw intimacy in these encounters—a recognition of shared vitality and a deep respect for the delicate balance that sustains life. In these moments, captured in the wild, I find a reflection of our own struggles for survival, our own moments of grace and power. Light, for me, is the essence of photography—it is the medium through which the world reveals its hidden truths. Light in my work is always intentional, always leading the viewer into a deeper understanding of the scene. It is in these moments of illumination that I find the profound, the sacred, the eternal.
Through my work, I strive to explore themes of identity, memory, and the passage of time. Each photograph is a part of this ongoing exploration—a visual journal of my encounters with the world, an invitation for the viewer to pause, to see beyond the surface, and to engage with the deeper currents that flow beneath. My goal is not just to capture what is in front of me, but to create images that resonate on an emotional level, that linger in the mind and spirit long after the viewer has turned away.
EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS, AND PUBLICATIONS
2024 | On Paper 2024, Grimsby Public Art Gallery
2024 | ‘Migratory Trees‘, Issue 03, Four Faced Liar, Ireland
2024 | Featured Photographer, 7th Chania International Photo Festival, Greece
2024 | Featured Artist, ‘Moments Of Color’ Photography Exhibition, Blank Wall Gallery, Greece.
2024 | Velocity Series, Threads 2024, Saskatoon Open Door Society
2024 | Existere, Issue #43, York University, Canada
2023 | Featured Artist, Southern Alberta Art Gallery Yearbook
2022 | ‘Yggdrasil‘ – Honorable Mention Abstract Category, 6th Edition of MonoVisions Awards
2021 | In Flux Series, PhotoED Magazine, Spring / Summer Issue, Canada
2020 | ‘Blue City’, Phoebe Journal, 50th Anniversary Issue Feature
2018 | Two Photographs, Crooked Teeth Lit
2017 | Winner, London Photo Festival – Architecture
2017 | Three Photographs, L’Éphémère Review
2017 | Cover Image and 4 Photographs, Crab Fat Magazine
2017 | Five Photographs, Peacock Journal
2017 | Two Photographs, Thistle Mag: Symphony
2017 | Three Photographs, Stonecoast Review
2017 | Two Photographs, Riggwelter Press
2017 | Four Photographs, Spark Magazine
2017 | Cover Image and 3 Photographs, Issue 35 Asian Cha
2017 | Four Photographs, Issue 11, Sediments Lit
2017 | Two Photographs, Issue 02, Former Cactus
2017 | One Photograph, 3 Elements Review
2017 | Two Photographs, Green Light Literary Journal
2017 | One Photograph, Passporte Gallery
2017 | Five Photographs, Creu Magazine
2016 | Two Photographs, Fine Flu Journal
2012 | 3 Silver, 3 Bronze, Photograph of the Year 2012, Better Photography Magazine
2011 | 1 Silver, 8 Bronze, Various Categories, International Loupe Awards
2011 | 5 Bronze, Nature and Built Environment, Epson International Pano Awards
2010 | 4 Silver & 5 Bronze, Various Categories, International Aperture Awards
2010 | Gold, Nature / Landscape, Crowbar Awards
New Releases
Explore my latest photographic endeavors, where every image is a reflection of new inspirations.