Alakananda Nag is a cultural entrepreneur, author, and educationist dedicated to uncovering forgotten histories and reimagining heritage for the present. A former Cannes Lions Gold–winning filmmaker, she trained in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at the International Center of Photography, New York, and has since built a career at the intersection of image-making, archives, and cultural practice.

Her first book, Armenians of Calcutta (2021), launched across India and the United States, and has been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon.

Nag is the founder of Archival Matter, an organization that develops new ways of engaging with underrepresented histories, and Absent Archives, a platform addressing archival silences through writing, zines, exhibitions, and community projects. Her practice often crosses boundaries—whether through the Fulbright-funded Following the Box, based on found WWII photographs of Calcutta, or through experimental interventions that bring archives directly to the public.

Alongside her cultural work, she draws on two decades of experience in branding, advertising, and filmmaking, and continues to consult with corporates as a creative director, using her storytelling expertise to shape brand narratives. She also teaches as visiting faculty at the National Institute of Design and at CSMVS (formerly Prince of Wales Museum), Mumbai.

For Nag, cultural entrepreneurship means not just telling stories of the past, but building infrastructures of memory that allow communities to see themselves differently.