Arati Kumar-Rao

Arati Kumar-Rao is an Indian photographer, writer, and National Geographic Explorer whose work focuses on environmental storytelling and the fragile relationship between people and the landscapes they inhabit. Through long-term, immersive reporting across India, she documents how environmental degradation, disappearing groundwater, habitat loss, and expanding industry reshape ecosystems and livelihoods, often pushing both communities and wildlife to the edge of survival.

Her work has been published internationally in outlets including National Geographic Magazine, Emergence Magazine, the BBC, and The Guardian. In recognition of her impact, Arati was named one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential and Inspiring Women in 2023.

Her first book, Marginlands: A Journey into India’s Vanishing Landscapes, is the culmination of years of fieldwork documenting fragile ecosystems and the communities living within them. The book received widespread recognition, winning Book of the Year at the Green Litfest and Publishing Next awards in 2024 and later being listed among the Best Books of 2025 by Foreign Affairs and Publishers Weekly.

Before becoming a full-time storyteller, Arati studied physics and worked in the corporate world, a path that eventually led her to pursue photography and environmental storytelling. Today, her work continues to explore how landscapes and human lives are intertwined, and she is currently working on a National Geographic–supported project documenting human migration across India.