About Kirti

Kirti Fatania-Bassendine is a fine art photographer and storyteller based in California, with a BA Honours in Fine Art Photography from Derby University, England. Her work weaves together still photography, videography and virtual tours to tell cultural stories. As an artist she has always been intrigued by human relationships and how they interweave with different social and cultural contexts – especially how these complexities impact the discovery of one's sense of identity and belonging within one's culture and in the wider world. She explores the importance of reconnecting with one's indigenous cultural roots, passing culture to the next generation and the role of women in these processes, especially

  • Mother Daughter Cultural Roots - the role of immigrant women in passing on indigenous culture from one generation to the next, especially mother-daughter relationships
  • Homeless Voices - how homelessness is perceived, breaking down barriers to restore common humanity
  • Women's sense of identity and belonging within their culture and the wider world
  • Nomadic ways of life, and how its subcultures integrate or conflict with modern society
  • Human-ecological relationships within the landscapes of the US South-West

Kirti was born in Kenya and emigrated to England at an early age. Throughout her life she experienced life in a minority culture surrounded by strong Western influences, struggling to search for identity between her parents' heritage and the modern world. Taking up her camera at an early age, her artistic expression was shaped and focused by her experiences as a young immigrant of a minority culture migrating from Kenya to England and finally the US. 

After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Photography from Derby University, her first body of work Voiceless examined the expected role of a young Indian girl growing up in the Western world, surrounded by two cultures, with her struggle to conform and search for personal identity. The exhibition toured for three years across England to great critical acclaim, and was embraced by both cultures. In parallel, a second exhibition Brave New World explored cultural repression of immigrant womens' careers and how this affected their dreams and aspirations for their daughters.

Having emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s, she spent 30 years as a professional photographer and continued her artistic expression with work on "Urban Decay" in the US South, and - most recently - Homeless Voices exploring the stories and experiences of California's homeless community, and Mother Daughter Cultural Roots examining the role of immigrant women in passing on indigenous culture from mother to daughter.