Rishav Chandra is a strategic communications expert with a diverse portfolio spanning design, diplomacy, advocacy and Art-Direction. Recipient of the Gold award in 2019, Rishav completed his Master's Degree in Communication & Experience Design from Goldsmiths, University of London.
His publication, Dastarkhan: Stories of Tradition, Transition and Everything in Between is an ethnographic inquiry into North and North‑Eastern subcontinental culinary practices. The book exists within a matrix of his biographical journey and the conditions that dictate cooking practices in these regions. Rishav unpacks how a tablecloth (dastarkhan) becomes a symbol of harmony, revealing socio‑cultural narratives only visible when sharing a meal.
Currently serving as the Chief of Staff at The VEDA Global, Rishav is building technology integrated solutions through advanced proprietary frameworks and indices for the urgent and pressing issues of governance in the Global South. Beyond his strategic expertise, Rishav is an accomplished photographer, with works featured at the International Design Biennale Gwangju, South Korea and various Government State departments. Former professional athlete and a connoisseur of the performing arts
About the Artwork:
Title: The shape of silence
Medium: Digital photographic series (conceptual urban photography)
The Shape of Silence emerged from a deeply personal moment during my time in the UK as an international student. In early 2020, as the COVID pandemic disrupted global mobility, public life, and our understanding of normalcy, I found myself in an uncertain position. My student visa was nearing expiry, international travel routes were collapsing, and India had effectively shut its borders to incoming travellers from Europe. For a brief period, I existed in a state of suspended belonging, between countries, between certainties, between futures.
One evening, while returning home to New Cross, I encountered something almost surreal. Trafalgar Square: one of London’s most iconic civic spaces standing completely empty on a weekend. A site historically associated with gathering, protest, celebration, tourism, and democratic public life had fallen silent. That moment became the catalyst for this series.
The Shape of Silence documents #London_in_lockdown as I came to experience it during those extraordinary moments. Surpassing its identity as an active metropolis. Through design thinking, systems observation, and narrative framing, I began seeing infrastructure as vessels of memory, movement, and human connection.