namrata arjun

please come in, dinner is served (2020) (performance still)
Courtesy baseCollective (Böhler/Granzer) and Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts & Research

namrata arjun works with re-orienting memory, and the queering of historical references through the autobiographical. In the process, they surface neurodivergent perspectives, engage thick/queer/crip time and push back against inherited disappearances within/through figurative painting. By painting their own (normatively read as “female”) nude body in the first-person perspective, they position their body/vantage point as a personal framing device, re/producing images/conventions that normalise queer perspectives/depathologize unmasked autistic/neurodivergent spatialities/temporalities. Time is rendered as non-linear/layered/nested-within-itself, while the ground is reconfigured into a vibrant/perpetually-shifting/animate negative/in-between space (dis)oriented by multiple perspectives. They conflate categories of subject/object, centre and margin/periphery, alternating between (gender) dysphoria and (neuroqueer) joy by grappling with family photographs, images re/constructed from dreams/mythological texts/rituals/gestures from living performance traditions, and colonial archives, engaging in a politic of pushing back against inherited disappearances to implicate/include the viewer.

They graduated with an MFA in Painting from the Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts at Bard College, New York (2023), and were a Young India Fellow at Ashoka University (2016-17). In 2019, they were awarded a residential scholarship at Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts & Research by the Viennese art factory baseCollective (Böhler/Granzer) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of the Republic of Austria for arts-based-philosophy, which culminated in a field performance. Their work has been featured as part of group exhibitions including BluePrint12’s Platform at the Delhi Contemporary Art Week 2021. Their first solo exhibition ontological striptease opened in August 2022 at BluePrint12, as part of Delhi Art Week in collaboration with Artsy. In 2023, they were commissioned to create a permanent video installation for the Bangalore International Airport (T2). They have also held curatorial, research and administrative positions at the Devi Art Foundation (2017-19) and the Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore (2020-21).

CV available on request

Please get in touch for enquiries: namrata.arjun.studio@gmail.com

selected press

STIRworld, 2022
Vogue, 2022
Platform, 2022
India Art Fair, 2022
Art&Education, 2022
Architectural Digest, 2021

education

MFA, Bard College, New York (2022)
PGDip., Young India Fellowship, Ashoka University, Delhi (2017)
BVA, Stella Maris College, Chennai (2016)

public projects/institutional collections

2023 still water, troubled waters (permanent video installation) at the Bengaluru International Airport (T2), Bengaluru, India (about) (link to panel discussion)

shows

SOLO EXHIBITION:

2022 ontological striptease solo exhibition as part of Delhi Art Week in collaboration with Artsy at Blueprint12, Delhi

As featured on:

STIRworld
Vogue
Platform
India Art Fair

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2024 Finite versus Infinite, curated by Dr. Ashrafi Bhagat, Varija Art Gallery, Dakshinachitra Museum, Chennai
(press) (press) (press)
2023 Keep it Real, curated by Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Dhi Contemporary, Hyderabad
(link to exhibition)
(press) (feature)
2023 In the Wall, A Window, curated by Kriti Sood / LAND (Learning Through Arts, Narrative and Discourse) at TheUpsideSpace
(link to exhibition)
2023 The Trailblazers, curated by Shreya Ajmani as part of the physical exhibition accompanying Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art Online, Bonhams, New Bond Street, London
(link to interview text)
(press)
2022 Absolutely Maybe, Bard MFA Thesis Show, Red Hook, New York
(press)
2021 Delhi Contemporary Art Week, in collaboration with BluePrint12, Bikaner House, Delhi
(press)
2020 Platform, BluePrint12, Delhi
(link)
2020 Truth and Lies: Aesthetic Practices in Times of Fake News, Adishakti Laboratory for Arts Research, Viennese art factory baseCollective (Böhler/Granzer)
(catalogue)
(press)
2019 River, Body, House, Column, Fisher Studio Art Gallery, Bard College, New York (images)
2019 Ruff, Fisher Studio Art Gallery, Bard College, New York

curatorial/publications/research

2021 In Conversation with Tallur LN, Interview for Museum of Art and Photography (read more here..)

2020-21 Research Associate, Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore (about)

2020 Doubling as Genre, curated an online exhibition for Google Arts & Culture and Museum of Art and Photography (view online exhibit)

2020-21 Porous Bodies member of the practice-based working community facilitated by Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu and Sandra Noeth (about project)

2019 Deeper Within Its Silence: form and unbecoming, in collaboration with Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi (about exhibition/catalogue)

2018 a search in five directions: Textiles from the Vishwakarma Exhibitions, in collaboration with the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum and Devi Art Foundation (about exhibition/catalogue)

2018 Unspoken Void: A dialogic inquiry into Minor Architecture at OP Jindal Global Law School in collaboration with Devi Art Foundation, Achia Anzi and Kriti Sood (about)

2017 Interpreting Colour at Ashoka University in collaboration with Devi Art Foundation (about)

awards

2019 Bard MFA Fellowship and Scholarship, Bard College

2021 Bard MFA Fellowship and Scholarship, Bard College

2022 Bard MFA Fellowship and Scholarship, Bard College

2019 Residency Programme for Artistic Research and Arts-based-Philosophy at Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts and Research by the Viennese art factory baseCollective (Böhler/Granzer) for arts-based-philosophy in collaboration with University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, University of Applied Arts Vienna, University of Vienna (Faculty of Philosophy and Education), Federal Ministry of the Republic of Austria (BMEIA) (award announcement)