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.
Ray’s work encompasses the realms of contemporary portraiture, classical representation, and mythology, with a keen interest in stories from the South Asian diaspora. Through the intersections of gazes – particularly between herself as a brown woman and with those of her subjects – she documents stories of love, heritage, and sacred bonds, exploring the ebbs and flows of human connection: relationships both familial and familiar, potent and gentle.
By constructing tangible “safe spaces” that serve as refuge from the outside world, her photographs highlight our interior spaces: sensibilities and aesthetics, fantasies and desires, moments of both solitude and solace, and the preservation of self.
Ray’s photographs have been published in Vogue India, Vogue Magazine, The New York Times, ELLE, People Magazine,Architectural Digest, and ESSENCE, and exhibited at Christie’s Auction, PHILLIPS, MoMa PS1, and Photoville, among others. She has received recognition and awards from YoungArts, the Dedalus Foundation, and NASDAQ; and was the recipient of the 2024 YoungArts Baxter St Residency, culminating in her debut solo show “interthread” at Baxter Street Camera Club’s storefront gallery for one month. Ray is a 2023 graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts in Photography & Imaging.
