<p>Fuelled by the new media, visual culture in India is going through an architectonic shift; historical visual codes are showing fissures; the arrival of new aesthetics and narratives defy dominant production systems. Despite risks and vulnerability of a techno-elite controlled space, subaltern communities and ‘deviant’ subcultures are able to produce a counter cultural visual field. This emergent reality decentralises dominant visual and aesthetic codes accepted as a norm in India’s visual culture. The paper locates the contemporary visual culture in India against the historical forces that left behind new forms of inequalities in India- including visual inequalities. Although digital inequality or digital divide reflect social stratification in terms of accessibility, visual inequality is critical to understand visual articulations and aspirations. A diachronic qualitative cultural analysis of visual practices in India reveals how social actors are responding to visual proliferation. In this process, the paper also reflects on visual strategies opted by such social agencies to negotiate with dominant forces of visual production.</p>