Janhavi (b. 1993) is an independent artist from India, who currently lives and works in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Through her work, she explores the intersections of memory, food, gender and ecology from a neo-colonial feminist lens. She’s drawn to the inaccuracies in folkloric structures of storytelling; and employs the tools of performative fiction in recreating narratives that transform her accumulated experience of the ‘self’ in context and contradiction to her surroundings. She often uses food as a mutating metaphor to stage personal, anatomical and systemic enquiries in her practice. She primarily works with photography and film, and engages with the conceptual function of digital media to remember, misremember and even forget information. Her practice also invites sculptural and installation-based methods to disrupt how digital media is conventionally consumed. She consciously traces the ecological and socio-political trajectories of the materials and processes she interacts with.
Education :
MFA Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University 2022
Post Grad Diploma in Art History and Curatorial Studies, BDL Museum 2017
Bachelor’s of Mass Media (Journalism), Mumbai University 2014
Artist Member :
Primary, Nottingham
East Side Projects, Birmingham
Solo Exhibitions :
‘Poison Berries’ | Photo Access, Huw Davies Gallery 3 | Canberra, Australia 2024
Group Exhibitions :
Upcoming : Angnaa ‘24 | Commission for Transform Fest | Fabric Dance | Nottingham 2024
Mirrors, Windows, Portals curated by Dr. Assunta Ruocco| University of Lincoln| Lincoln 2024
’An eternal hour’ | Slow tide X Goa Photo | Goa, 2023
‘Co’| Backlit Gallery| Nottingham, 2023
Interim | Apre Art House| Mumbai, 2023
Unhidden| Backlit Gallery| Nottingham, 2022
NAE open | New Art Exchange | Nottingham, 2022
‘Night of the year’ curation by Dr. Lola Macdougall | Les Recontres De’Arles Photo Festival | Arles, 2022
IWD X Carousel | Carousel | Nottingham, 2022
‘Practicing Uncertainty’ | Backlit Gallery | Nottingham, 2021
Room to Bloom | Ecological and Post Colonial Feminism workshop | Athens, 2021
‘Aftermath’ | Nottingham Contemporary | Nottingham, 2021
Digital exhibition and Print Sale | Open Doors Gallery | London, 2021
‘ObjectIF’ | Surface Gallery | Nottingham, 2021
Digital Exhibition | Fotofemmeunited | Paris, 2021
‘Waypoint’ | Backlit Gallery | Nottingham, 2020
Wisdom Maps | Project Fuel | Online (2020)
Extensions | Goa photo festival (indefinitely postponed)
‘Memory Of Land’ | New Art Exchange | Nottingham (2019-2020)
Optikal Asylum | Sounds Of Kranti | Mumbai (2019)
Open Studio | Space 118 | Mumbai (2018)
Open Studio | Soorya Village | Colombo, Sri Lanka (2016)
Open Studio | Kochi Muziris Beinnale | Master Practice Studio residency (2015)
Commissions :
Film for ‘Your Rage is Sacred’ by Clémentine Bedos | Formaa Arts | London 2024
Film trailer for ‘Mehek’ by Aakash Odedra Company | Leicester 2023
Selected Press :
Interview | Design India Magazine | 2021
Interview | No Jobs In The Arts | 2021
Interview | Platform Magazine | 2020
Feature | Better Photography Magazine | June, 2020
Residencies :
Backlit Studio Residency | Ongoing (November ‘23 - August ‘24)
Curate Residency, New Art Exchange | 2024
Space 118 Mumbai | 2018
RTX Colombo, Sri Lanka | 2016
Kochi Muziris Biennale Master Practice Studio | Kochi 2015
Awards + Grants :
Grand Plan Fund, 2023
DYCP Fund Award, Art Council England 2023
NAE + Backlit Studio Bursary, 2023
Near Now Ideas Fund Award, 2023
NTU student Scholarship 2020
Workshops and Public Engagement :
Ephemeral Gestures | A slow drawing workshop reflecting on body language | National Justice Museum | Nottingham 2024
Jury Member | NAE Open and Reside 2024 for New Art Exchange | Nottingham 2024
Panel member, Citizen led Jury event for New Art Exchange ‘Exhibit’ | Nottingham, 2023
‘A Jar of memory pickles | Fruit Routes Harvest festival| Loughborough, 2023
Land and Belonging : Photo Workshops | Backlit Gallery| Nottingham, 2023
Nourishment : a cyclical program | Primary Gallery | Nottingham, 2022
Making Creative Connections | No Jobs in the Arts | Nottingham 2022
Mentor and Judge | Better Photography | Mumbai, 2020
Panelist and Mentor for ‘The political context of public art in India’ | Godrej Design Lab | Mumbai, 2019
Community workshop on fabric murals | Aavishkaar, Palampur | 2017