Photographer Aanchal Wadhwani Is Championing Inclusivity For Indian Creatives Globally

Aanchal Wadhwani is a young Hong-Kong based Indian creative who has ventured into a variety of different realms and artistic pursuits. The young entrepreneur is responsible for four businesses centred around creative arts that allow other individuals to explore their personal aesthetics. While Aanchal also works as a model, her primary focus is photography. She is the founder of Matryoshka Studio, a photo studio covering fashion, beauty, product, and advertising projects. 

Over the last few years, she has closely worked with NGOs, schools and global platforms such as TED to vocalise her support for young minorities. Her mission is to advocate for equal opportunities and encourage them to break away from their boundaries. Aanchal is a co-founder at Academy of Design in Hong Kong where design related short courses and workshops are organised at low costs to promote the art industry in either English or Cantonese.

Three years ago, she also founded STAGE Creatives, a creative production house covering all things visual. The company was born in the midst of the pandemic and the purpose of the management remains consistent, to break stereotypes and the one track standard of beauty within the industry. Proudly representing diversity and inclusivity by managing talent that feature different body types, height, skin colours, hair textures, culture, body art and identities. 

Aanchal’s diverse portfolio immaculately encapsulates self exploration and also creates equal opportunities for others. The creator believes that photography especially is meant for her to narrate unique stories. Growing up as a minority in Hong Kong, the lens became an avenue for her to capture personal experience and experiment with art direction, makeup, props, and much more. 

Several years ago, Aanchal was also scouted to play one of the main characters, Riya Rai, in a mini-series for DBS Bank titled 'Sparks'. The first two seasons feature Asian celebrities like Adrian Pang, Michael Wong, and Sachin Tendulkar and Season 3 has recently dropped. Additionally she has since been featured on ChannelNews Asia's docuseries 'Indian Diaspora in Asia', sharing her story on being a young entrepreneur in Hong Kong. Through all these ventures Aanchal is making space for South Asian stories at a global level and continues to drive conversations around inclusivity. 

Explore her photography page here.

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