Widely considered the pioneer of video art in India, Nalini Malani explores drawing, painting, and the extension of those forms into projected animation, video, and film. Her works in new media often take the form of monumental and immersive shadow play pieces that create mesmerizing layers of imagery and sound. Committed to the role of the artist as social activist, Malani focuses on creating dynamic visual stories about those who have been ignored, forgotten, or marginalized by history. Drawn from history, culture, and her direct experience as a refugee of the Partition of India and the legacy of colonialism and de-colonization, Malani’s work explores violence, the feminine, and the politics of national identity.
Malani’s work is represented in numerous public collections including the Asia Society Museum, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, France; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Modern Art Mumbai, India; National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi, India; British Museum, England; and Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands. In the past decade alone, solo exhibitions have been shown at museums including the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Massachusetts, 2016; Kiran Nader Museum of Art, India, 2014; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia, 2012; Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, France, 2010; and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland, 2007. In 2017, the Centre Georges Pompidou, France, will present a retrospective of the artist’s work. The Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands, will also have a solo exhibition of Malani’s work in 2017.
Malani was born in 1946 in Karachi, India. She currently lives and works in India and Europe.
Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. New York


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