The exhibition Clapping with Stones is a chilling reminder that the history of art is also the history of power.
Author Archives: Sharmistha Ray
Sharmistha Ray is a New York-based art and writer. Her areas of interest include cultural theory in relation to post-colonialism, identity politics and migration. She has written for the India edition of Vogue, and is the Contributing Editor for Art for the India edition of Elle. She has also contributed articles on art to Hyperallergic, Artcritical, Gallerie, Art India and Take on Art
An Indian Master of Fiber, Clay, and Bronze
In her fiber sculptures, Mrinalini Mukherjee achieved an alchemic relationship between materials and process, fusing abstraction and figuration to indelible effect.
A Trailblazing Lesbian Artist Gets Her Due
Harmony Hammond’s work can appear bewildering at first, expansive in its diametrical explorations, and sprawling in its material juxtapositions.
Reviving a Forgotten Artist of the Occult
Today, more than 100 million copies of Pamela Colman Smith’s Tarot card designs, the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck, are in circulation in over 20 countries, making it the most popular set ever made.
India’s Reclusive Master of Primordial Form
Krishna Reddy was one of the most innovative printmakers at the most innovative atelier in Paris.
Navigating the Slippage Between Reality and Illusion
The architectonics of Leslie Wayne’s structures exude impermanence and a poetic expression of loss.
Filling Art History’s Feminist Gaps
The testimonies of Navjot Altaf and Judy Chicago speak to silence, as truth does to power.
The Young Firebrands of Indian Modernism
The Progressive Artists’ Group represented a microcosm of class, caste, and religion, making them the perfect poster boys for the Nehruvian ideal of secularism.
An Artist’s Soul, Out at Sea
Zarina’s collages evoke the intense yearnings of a migrant in search of a home.
Kanishka Raja’s Life Between Two Worlds
Raja, who was 49 when he passed away on July 20, charted a singular artistic and personal trajectory between America and India.
Harnessing the Revelatory Power of Masks
For almost 20 years, Gauri Gill has documented the lives of nomads, peasants, tribals, migrants, and other marginalized communities of rural India.
A Feminist Artist’s Postcolonial Animations
Chitra Ganesh’s appropriations of traditional Hindu and Buddhist artworks are part homage to the past, part alternate realities and part badass feminist interventions.