Nalini Malani

Nalini Malani
Studio Bombay
Photo by Rafeeq Ellias

Biography

For five decades, Nalini Malani’s work has been described as an act of bearing witness to contemporary politics. Her explorative investigation of female subjectivity and her profound condemnation of violence—in its insidious and mass forms—is a constant reminder of the vulnerabilities and precariousness of life and human existence. Her experimental practice encompasses theatre, ephemeral wall drawings, erasure performances and video/shadow plays that stretch media and aesthetic boundaries.

Malani’s recent international solo exhibitions are The Rebellion of the Dead, Part II, Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli (2018), Part I, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2017); Transgressions, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017); In Search of Vanished Blood, ICA, Boston (2016); You Can’t Keep Acid in a Paper Bag, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2014). International group exhibitions include The Collection Stedelijk Base, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2018); 12th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, (2018); Awakenings: Art and Society in Asia 1960s-1990s, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, (2018); From the Collection 1960-1969, MoMA, New York (2016), Scenes from a New Heritage, MoMA, New York (2015). Her work is part of the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; British Museum, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, Singapore Art Museum and Tate Modern, London.

Among Malani’s awards are the Asian Art Game Changers Award, Asia Society, Hong Kong (2016); St Moritz Art Masters Lifetime Achievement Award (2014); Fukuoka Prize for Art (2013) and an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute (2010).

Malani completed a Diploma in Fine Arts from Sir JJ School of Arts, Bombay (1969) and secured a French government scholarship for fine arts to study in Paris (1970–1972). Born in 1946 in Karachi (Undivided India), she lives and works in Bombay.

SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 14.

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