013: A Meaningful Existence: Rhea Gupte on Artistic Liberty, the Pitfalls of Consumerism and Giving a Canvas to Thought

⌛ 7 MINUTES

Growing up, it seemed that Rhea Gupte’s surroundings were perfectly set up to instil in her the artistic temperament she has now made a career out of. From drawing to singing to writing to making impromptu choreographies and wearing hand-customised clothes – a childhood steeped in fantasy and imagination was bound to give way to the adulthood she embraces now, teeming with artistry and creative liberty.

Chasing Freedom: Discovering Creative Expression  

It was during her 10th grade vacation that math-shunning, arts- oriented Rhea first stepped foot into the vast world of design softwares (courtesy of a part-time animation course). Gaining exposure to the likes of Photoshop and 3D modelling applications wasn’t merely an acceleration to her skill development — it also introduced her to the many varied ways one can communicate their identity. “Digital art will always be my first love, I think. It’s the first thing I studied to learn how to express myself as a creative.”

But by the end of junior college, Gupte had found herself a new love interest — fashion. Stumbling across a Fashion Communications course with a curriculum that brought together styling, photography, writing and graphic design, she went on to pursue a Bachelors in Design from NIFT Bangalore.

Design college was an underwhelming experience, as design education, at least at the time, was being treated more academically and bureaucratically than creatively. There was much to learn from guest faculty and her creative peer group, and the collaborations were very nurturing — but Rhea craved more liberty. Gaining financial independence during college from a blog documenting her experimentations with style and aesthetic, as well as a few modelling gigs, Gupte’s first job out of college was as a social media consultant for a jewellery label — the start to a career exclusively in the freelance industry. Freelancing, though, came with its own set of apprehensions for Rhea, with financial independence at the fore. It was a risk, but a calculated one— “I knew I could put myself out there and pitch myself to people.”

The initial days were difficult. Freelance wasn’t luxurious in any way, and Gupte relied on a couple stray projects and her consultancy job to cover her rent safely. But these experiences enabled her to grow as a creative and as an artist. “I feel such life experiences are very important when you’re trying to develop your own practice.”

Zooming In: A Closer Look at Rhea’s Photography Projects  

Having quit her, by then, thriving blog at the end of 2015, Rhea picked up photography, cultivating her practice and doing projects in freelance capacity. A self-proclaimed know-nothing at the craft starting out, she has quickly developed her own artistic style that has earned her several commercial projects.

And how does she do it?

The starting point is a dialogue: to have as much clarity and communication on what the client is looking for and whether your own vision and aesthetic match with that. “I’ll try and send them a questionnaire or have a discussion with them on call. Since I live in Goa, a lot of my projects happen here or in different states across India, and clients are usually not present at my shoots. So that clarity is really important.” You need the client to trust your vision and direction for the project — and for that, you need to be able to communicate it to them really well.

Then there’s a bit of a back and forth– “After understanding their vision for the project, I can either incorporate exactly what they have in mind in my own way, or, if I feel their brand could be represented in a slightly different way, I’ll put together my ideas and send those to them.” How Rhea usually sends across her ideas is through sketches or written texts (she’s not a fan of referencing or mood boards, because she believes it limits your vision or sets unrealistic expectations). And then there’s contracts to be signed, and making sure the client is on board: “If the client isn’t convinced, I’m happy to change up my conceptualisation. At the end of the day, everyone should enjoy and like the outcome.”

For the shoot, Rhea is meticulous with the planning — she likes to be involved in every aspect, right from production to casting to styling to aesthetics to lighting, down to the models’ body language. Every aspect is broken down, planned and then communicated to the clients. Gupte also likes to have all her sketches and storyboards ready on-set so she knows exactly what to do. “Commercial projects, to me, are like performance art, because you have to figure out and create the output you’re going to use later within this given timeframe. I have a bunch of alarms set on shoot day, because I believe the pace of the shoot is extremely important.”

The editing process is the other half of the shoot, one that Rhea personally enjoys quite a bit. “I take my time with it, try to figure out how I want the colouring and the general look to be.” Gupte also emphasises on the importance of spending time on image selection. According to her, that can make or break the final output.

And then it’s a wrap.

So is Rhea Gupte a team-player or a solo act? Gupte divulges that while collaborations are fun, they’re not her go-to. “Probably 90% of my shoots are solo — but solo doesn’t always mean I do it all on my own, it’s sometimes where I’m putting my own team together.” Rhea likes to have that control and to be in both creative and aesthetic alignment with her team. She personally prefers not having any unknowns, especially in commercial projects. On end- to-end solo projects, Rhea says, “I think I enjoy being in my own company and being able to thoughtfully go from one thing to the other.”

The Best of Both Worlds 

A creative director/consultant by trade and an artist at heart, Rhea believes the two to be extremely different from one another. “As a creative consultant or director, I work specifically with clients. It’s like a partnership — we try to figure out together how to have a unique aesthetic or an authentic voice for the brand.” Although Gupte has had clients who were happy to hand her the creative reins, she feels that client-oriented work still comes with a lot of guidelines and limitations. “You have to take all those limitations into account and only then develop your creative decisions or strategies.”

It’s a different story with her art practice: completely hers, dictated entirely by her mind and how much time she wants to put into it. “It’s an outlet for me to be able to express, communicate or create dialogue on topics I feel passionate about.” It has a completely different creative process from her commercial work as well, according to Gupte. “With my art, the starting point is to write down my thoughts and feelings, or the subject matter I’m trying to put together. Then I’ll start thinking about what is the best medium to express it.” It could be poetry, a short fiction piece, photography, or 3D art; the entire process is very free and has no imposed boundaries. It is also something Rhea looks at for a very long-term length. “If I have an idea that I want to develop but I feel I don’t have the time or skillset to develop it now, I’ll let it be like a seed in the mud, and let it grow as and when it feels nourished enough to be able to come out into the world.” At times, having let the idea simmer for so long, Rhea’s own growth reflects in how different the idea becomes— “Initially I might have thought of it from a specific angle, but then with time, it sometimes completely changes or sometimes the visual treatment might have completely changed.”

But even Rhea’s commercial work isn’t confined to strictly commercial. “My work would definitely fall more in the art category and I personally enjoy that.” In the commercial aspect to photography, everything has to look perfect and the product has to be portrayed in a specific light; Gupte, on the other hand, is more creative than technical in her approach. “Framing, the use of space, composition, those things are exciting to me.”

Commissioned by Bhaane as part of a social media conversation about the history of curd.Curd is a substance where you take a little bit of it to make another batch, so it’s like the original curd continued from generation to generation. Gupte’s idea for the portrait was to talk about how curd carries the sum total of the stories it has learnt and heard from being passed down over generations. As the substance keeps getting used in different ways, these stories also keep evolving over time. ‘My idea to have little wildflowers grow from it was to depict how growth can happen in unexpected places..’

Rhea tries to work with clients who are similarly aligned and interested in trying something different. “If I sense that it’s a client that isn’t going to align with my practice, then I can tell it might not work out. I’ll look at their aesthetic and recommend a different creative for them to work with.”

An advocate for sustainable and ethical fashion practices, Gupte also makes sure not to work with clients who aren’t in that conscious or ethical space. Her portfolio of clients is flooded with women- led businesses, sustainable ventures and businesses with an ethical approach to their supply chains and vision.

The third criteria for client-selection is the budget. “If I’m investing time in something then I want to be paid in a way I feel is appropriate for my effort and skill level.”

Creativity with a Conscience: on Consumerism and Freelance Culture

A strong proponent for ethical fashion, Rhea believes that education on the topic is extremely important. “We need to understand the various levels at which fashion is harmful — the disproportionate ill effects it has on third world countries where most of these industries and factories are based and on the people who work in them.” She feels we need to be more conscientious of what we consume and where we put our money, and also figure out what we can do in our individual capacity as well as how we can encourage the government and large bodies to move in this direction.

This regard for mindfulness extends to the purview of photography as well, according to Rhea. She feels one’s intention behind creating images is important — whether someone in a commercial capacity is trying to do something for the sake of performative allyship, or if they’re actually invested in what they’re talking about.

Gupte started working with IKKIVI, an e-marketplace for sustainable fashion labels, three years ago as their creative director. ‘The way we write on the platform and the content we invest our time and effort in is rooted in the feeling of wanting more people to be aware of what’s happening to the environment and the world. We’re also trying to create a platform to have more voices heard. It’s a small business so we face challenges in terms of wanting to do more than what we can, but we’re taking it one step at a time and trying to figure out the best way to grow.’

Featured here: IKKIVI Zine, a magazine by Ikkivi which talks about not just slow fashion but slow living and mindful consumerism.

Also a strong proponent for ethical work culture, Rhea believes the freelance industry should be gearing up for some big, big changes. “There’s so much that needs to happen within this space, starting with clients respecting freelancers and sticking to contracts and their own commitments when it comes to finances.” She finds that there’s a lack of structure to freelancing and no moderating body or regulations. Rhea herself tries to be extremely contractual, figuring out everything beforehand over email to have that sense of trust with her clients. “As a freelancer you do a lot more than what your actual work is, everything right from accounting to managing your emails. Having more of this dialogue and conversation about respecting the freelance industry is really important, because people get into it with not as much awareness.”

Gupte gives credit where it’s due, acknowledging that the creative industry has made some strides since the time she started working. But there’s a long way to go — both locally and internationally. “Diversity and inclusivity are still used as a token and aren’t much of a commitment when it comes to commercial projects. There’s still that fascination with lighter skin tones and thinness and how advertising always portrays purchasing power as a metric for how happy or successful you can be.” These narratives are slowly changing, but Rhea thinks they can change faster and further. She also feels that the copy-paste mentality rampant within creative agencies needs immediate changing.

The Rhea Gupte Guide

Among the many ways you can be exploited as a novice, pricing is a tricky thing to navigate when you’re a freelancer — and Rhea has some advice for it. She recommends putting a small amount in place as your rate and then slowly increasing it as you gain experience. “If you search for photography rates, you’ll come across different rates for different levels of expertise and you can figure out where you fit in. Typically, it’s all given in an hourly- rate basis, which I think is a good way to price yourself because you can see how many hours you’re going to need to work on a project, right from the conceptualisation stage to the submission of the end product, and use that and your hourly rate to calculate what you want to charge. Eventually, you can also keep increasing your hourly rate with the growth of your talent, skillset, experience and portfolio.”

You also need to be clear about the scope of work you have going into a project. Try and have contracts in place; there are templates available online that you can alter to your requirements. Gupte suggests getting them checked by someone from a legal background, if possible. “Try and invest that little bit of money into having your main contract in place. Have your scope of work laid out, chalk out a few different situations — try and safeguard your interests with clear communication.” She also recommends having conversations with your peer group and people within the industry; open conversations help you gauge whether something’s headed in the right direction.

And is there any creative advice she can dole out? Answer: plenty.   

“Keep practising, because the more you practise, the more you’ll know what you enjoy doing and what specific decisions you make as a creative.” She also believes that you don’t have to be naturally gifted at something to pursue it properly. “You can take the effort to be better at anything. Read the right books, google the right things, listen to the right people talk about the things you want to improve at.”

Rhea suggests spending a lot of time getting to know yourself — figuring out what are the things you want to do in life, writing them down and thinking about how you want to spend each day. “Your life is a sum total of each of your days, and if you figure out how exactly you want to spend each day of your life, you’re going to have a fulfilling life,” she says, going on to quote American author Annie Dillard:

‘How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.’

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!