IMMERSE - Somaiya Vidyavihar University

3rd April

5th May 2025

Selection Committee:

Priyanshi Saxena (Director, PSArts), Veerangana Solanki (Curator and Art Writer), Thukral and Tagra (Artists)

Curator:

Satyam Yadav

Curatorial Note:

Read Here

Catalogue:

Download Here

Location:

Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai

Exhibition Dates:

6^th-22^nd January, 2023

Date of Opening:

6^th January, 2023

Studio Visits:

Anju Dodiya, Vishwa Shroff and Parag Tandel

Workshops held by:

Deepthi Sasidharan and Anish Gawande

IMMERSE edition 2 was part of the India Art Fair Parallel program and Mumbai Gallery Weekend. Somaiya Vidyavihar University presented a community event for artists in the form of a group exhibition and fellowship.

The exhibition titled 'Ways of Our Lives' showcased the artwork of 8 independent artists from various cities in India, curated by Satyam Yadav, who were invited for an opportunity to interact with the arts ecosystem during the Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2023.

These 8 artists and the curator in residence were invited to stay in Mumbai at Somaiya Vidyavihar University for the duration of the exhibition in a short, intensive artist-in-residence program, ensuring they experienced Mumbai and the art ecosystem first-hand.

All proceeds from the purchases at this exhibition went directly to the artist.

Anish Nandy

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Anish Nandy's main interest revolves around social and community situations and looking for non - institutional forms of being together in the face of social and ecological crises. Social beliefs, human behavior, mythology, sarcasm, etc. often capture his imagination and inspire him to paint. He deals mostly with himself falling categorically reflecting on his language.

He always tries to keep intact that particular element of 'surprise' and that keeps him reinventing, certainly in multiple ways. He is very sensitive to his thought processes and pays a lot of attention to every gesture of his surroundings, whether it is human behavior or an act of nature. He enjoys the entire painting process and tries to capture the everyday miracles and tragedies in his paintings

Anish's artistic practice is firmly rooted in dream-like compositions, which are sensitive and consists of satire with a proclivity towards architectural forms that he observes in his day to day life which serve as compelling take-off points for a deeper contemplation on memory and our relationship with the material world.

Anish Nandy currently lives and works in Kolkata.

Awards / Shows

Anish started his artist training at Government College of Fine Arts, Jabalpur in 2014. He continued on with his MFA from the same institution and completed in the year 2020. His career so far has seen one solo exhibition (Virtual) – Ukiyo, A Floating World (2020) curated by Vu Ngo, Canada.

In January 2023, Anish was a part of the Immerse residency program conducted by Carpe Arte and Young Art Support and conceptualized by Shaleen Wadhwana.

He has shown his works as a part of individual collective exhibitions, incl. Kochi Muziris Biennale (Students Biennale)(2016 & 2020); Triptych at Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi(2017); 31st Ravi Jain Memorial Exhibition and Award at Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi (2021); Emergent at Art Explore, New Delhi(2021); Emerging Palettes at Shrishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad (2021).

Bhavin Patel

Surat, Gujarat, India

Born in the village of Variav, which is now a suburb of the larger Surat, Gujarat. I belong to a farmer’s family, much like the majority of the families in our village. I have been a part of this amazing process of turning sweat into food since I was a young child.

Aside from the difficulties farmers face due to contemporary expectations, I was one of the fascinating observers of how urbanization gradually buried its roots in the farmer's way of life. In reaction, I focused more on the same location after graduating from the Department of Fine Arts, VNSGU Surat.

Initially, I tried to address the stark difference between rural life, farming, and urbanization; however, as time went on, my practice became more metaphorical and object-based, and my work was strengthened during post-graduation from MSU Baroda. In this time by a number of internships and a farming related dissertation.

Later, I enrolled in a summer residence programme at SPACE STUDIO Baroda, and residency in Mumbai at Immerse 2.0 , where I had numerous opportunity to create more art and engage in social interaction.I have been working as a studio practitioner at VIS-VIS Artists studio in Baroda for the past year.

Residencies / Studios

Ongoing
- Currently working as studio Artist in Vis-à-vis studio, Vadodara, Gujarat.
2023
- 3 week, Immerse 2023,Somaiya Vidya Vihar University, Mumbai.

Exhibition

2023
- 1×1×9, by Vis-a- Vis Studio, Exhibition Hall, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSUniversity, Vadodara .
- Saankli2023, Exhibition Hall, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSUniversity Vadodara.
- Fault Lines, Conflictorium (Museum of conflict), Ahmedabad.
- Trail, by Platform 2b, Exhibition Hall, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSUniversity, Vadodara.
- Ways of our lives, by Immerse 2023,Somaiya Vidya Vihar University,Mumbai.

Bheeshma Kumar Sharma

Imphal, Manipur, India

Bheeshma Sharma b. 1993, Manipur (India) is a visual artist investigating the influence of the current socio-political climate of the homeland and other regions with personal anecdotes and are often visited.

Inspired from ancestral family displacement, eyewitnesses, and reminiscing memories following the second world war that played a decisive role in forming a distinctive outlook on the modern day paradigm and the challenges. His works in sculpture, paintings and digital renderings often depict eerie alienating landscapes.

Exhibits / Workshops / Residencies

WAYS OF OUR LIVES, curated by Satyam Yadav as part of Immerse 2.0, Mumbai, 2023.
IMMERSE FELLOWSHIP 2.0, Somaiya Vidyavihar University / Mumbai.

Publications

REQUIEM FOR THE FUTURE - Serendipity Arts

Biswajit Thakuria

Guwahati, Assam, India

Biswajit Thakuria is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice revolves around social memories and landscape dialogues. He investigates landscapes as intricate, multi-layered phenomena, aiming to revisit significant events from Assam’s past by engaging with archival memories, both public and private.

Within his approach, there is a deliberate investigation into the role of power—not only in controlling and erasing these events but also in shaping the representation of landscapes.

Biswajit’s practice spans photography, videos, and drawings and he primarily works with organic materials inspired by the process of mask-making in Assam.

He did his BFA and MFA from Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan in 2020 and 2022 respectively. He works around Guwahati and Santiniketan.

Awards / Shows / Residencies

2023
- Prince Claus Seed Award.
- Students Biennale 2022-23 as part of Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
- Immerse 2.0 Fellowship at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai
- Khoj Share 2023, New Delhi
- “Bare Acts” a group exhibition curated by Arushi Vats at Prameya Art Foundation, 2023.

Moumita Basak

Burdwan, West Bengal, India

Moumita Basak (b.1996, West-Bengal) earned her BFA (2020) and MFA (2022) in Painting from Govt. College of Art and Craft, Calcutta University. Basak’s is a community-oriented, textile-based practice borrowing from the traditional Kantha embroidery craft of Bengal.

As an eco-feminist artist, Basak is primarily engaged with everyday lives, memories and experiences of middle-class women, and how markers of masculinity and femininity intertwine with overlapping discourses on ecology, recycling and sustainability, especially in her native area. Her artistic themes rooted in the socio-cultural fabric of Bengal also encompass issues of civil rights and experiences from marginalized gender, caste and the working-class communities.

Exploring questions of identity, belonging, and cultural heritage, her practice is an attempt to locate ‘Kantha’ craft as a site of contemporary experimentation and revivability.

Exhibition

2023
- ‘Ways of our lives’ (IMMERSE 2023) Group Exhibition at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai.

Achievements

2022
- 17th Gold Medal Winner at International Textile Triennale in Central Museum of Textile in Lodz, Poland.

Residencies

2023
- Fellows for Immerse 2.0 at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai.
- “Dhi Residency 23”, Hayedrabad

Project

Barbil Art Project VI at Bhubaneswar (2023) Curated by Pradosh Mishra, Concept by Jagannath Panda, Supported by Utsha Foundation, Arya Group Foundation.

Artwork collection

Central Museum Wlokiennictwa, Poland and private collection

Satyam Yadav

Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Satyam Yadav (he/his) graduated with a Master's in Gender Studies from SHS, Ambedkar University Delhi, while his Bachelor's was in History from Ramjas College, University of Delhi.

Academically, he is broadly interested in questions of the political economy, contemporary arts and art institutions, and visual cultures of queerness, health and sexuality in relation to the wider intellectual traditions of South Asia. Satyam's recent research engagements and writings have centered on queer- feminist biopolitical histories of India, and the politics of hurt, identity and representation in the contemporary arts.

Awards / Shows / Solos / Residencies

Satyam has previously had experience working in both gallery and museum set-ups in India. Notable have been the Mehrangarh Fort Museum (2019)
Ether Project and India Art Fair, where he functioned as the research assistant to Shaleen Wadhwana in curating the talk series 'Align and Disrupt' (2023).
He also served as the curatorial advisor in organising the exhibition 'Digital Lives of Women' (2022) under the Museum of Rape Threat and Sexism at Khuli Khirkee, New Delhi.
He was the recipient of the first Immerse curatorial residency in Mumbai, where he curated the group exhibition 'Ways of Our Lives' (2023).
Currently, he functions as the curatorial advisor to Ether Project, where he curated ‘Embodied Encounters’, at Ram Chhatpar Shilp Nyas, Varanasi (2022), and co-curated a group exhibition titled 'Natura Urbana' (2023) at the Arpana Caur Centre for the Arts in New Delhi

Shiv Shankar

Gaya, Bihar, India

Shiv's works are about rearming his social identity in his locale which has connections regarding social imposition, dominance, defamation, and the dream of an egalitarian society. I try to focus on the belongings which are stuck in time as recognizing elements of my familial and societal settings in which an individual functions

Nostalgia plays a significant Role and caste is a "reality" in Bihar and how much caste is engrained in this nostalgic tracing in my work is very important. And it begins by the very caste I belong to,"Yadav". In the past, this caste has always been vocal about its issues in the hierarchical system of caste structure.

I can also see the only caste which gains dominance in the politics of the North regions of India are Yadavas, so it can be said as maligning a caste that is considered lower in the strata of caste structure is very much evident and not justified.

A few of the events which have happened like Chara Ghotala by Lalu Yadav, Rocky Yadav road rage case, and discrimination on scientific evaluation can justify judging the whole caste as mindless people.

Exhibitions, Residencies and Grant

2023
- Falling through a signal with —out-of-line—(FICA), Delhi
- Khoj residency peers, Delhi
- Immerse (2.0) fellowship, Mumbai
2022
- Student Biennale, Kochi, by Amshu Chukki

Srishti Gupta

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Srishti (1998) is an Artist from Lucknow. She completed her BFA from Delhi College of art and MFA from Kala Bhawana, Santiniketan. Srishti is currently based in Santiniketan, West Bengal.

She travel to gather stories about people's togetherness, culture, cuisine, crafts, way of life, and traditions; second, she -create books with revolutionary poetry, interviews, and texts that pose crucial questions for humanity through the medium poems, printmaking, papermaking, weaving and installation

Shows, Grants, Residencies

2023
- She was part of the Group show and residency programme conducted by Young art support and Carpe Art at Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai

Thamshagpha Maku

Baroda, Gujarat, India

Work is informed by the forms, themes, and iconography found in Naga tribal culture, which mostly developed as a result of observing native flora and fauna.

His artistic approach has been guided by the notion of estrangement inside one's own nation from the periphery and encountered experience at the nation's center, as well as occurrences and formations of tribal cultural practices of "creating" against the given discriminations.

Thamsangpha lives and works in Vadodara, Gujarat, India.

Exhibits / Workshops / Residencies

2023
- Young collector weekend mumbai.
- Space 118 fundraiser show mumbai.
- VHC gallery pune, student Biennale

Additionally, he was also a fellow at Immerse 2023, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, powered by Carpe Arte, Young Art Support, and Shaleen Wadhwana, Mumbai, 2022, residency at HH artspace goa 2023, India Art fair artist in residency delhi 2023, He is currently doing an artist’s residency under Natraj Sharma.

Awarded for FICA emerging artists award 2023, international award for student Biennale kochi 2023.

Currently working with a project with Anant Art Gallery Delhi

Curator:

Satyam Yadav

Catalogue:

Download Here

Location:

Vis A Vis | STIR, Chattarpur Farms, South Delhi.

Exhibition Dates:

27^th January - 4^th February, 2024

Date of Opening:

27^th January, 2024

IMMERSE in collaboration with the 15th edition of India Art Fair is pleased to present ‘Lateral B(l)inds’ a group exhibition showcasing its alumni curatorial and artist fellows form across India.

Curated by Satyam Yadav, the exhibition emerges as a synergistic response to dissonances in contemporary biopolitics, with artworks navigating critical tropes of health, environment, identity, gender, labour, and caste as impulsed by exigencies of capital and violence in South-Asia.

All exhibition artwork sale proceeds go 100% to our IMMERSE Alumni.

Adarsh Palandi

Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, India

Aditi Kulkarni

Pune, Maharashtra, India

Aditya Singh Rajpoot

Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Anilakumar Govindappa

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Anish Nandy

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Bhavin Patel

Surat, Gujarat, India

Biswajit Thakuria

Guwahati, Assam, India

Jaimini kishor Jariwala

Surat, Gujarat, India

Kapil Jangid

Delhi, India

Moumita Basak

Burdwan, West Bengal, India

Payal Arya

Delhi, India

Prithwish Daw

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Protyush Paul

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Richa Arya

Noida, Delhi, India

Sarmistha Bose

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Satya Gavara

Narayanapuram, Andhra Pradesh, India

Satyam Yadav

Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Shiv Shankar

Gaya, Bihar, India

Shrishti Gupta

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Shubham Kumar

Vadodra, Gujarat, India

Snigdha Tiwari

New Delhi, India

Tasneem Lohani

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Thamshagpha Maku

Baroda, Gujarat, India

Curator:

Shaleen Wadhwana

Curatorial Note:

Read Here

Catalogue:

Download Here

Location:

Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai

Exhibition Dates:

19^th-29^th March, 2022

Date of Opening:

22^nd March, 2022

Talk at the Opening:

Hena Kapadia, Veerangana Solanki & Sameer Kulavoor on “How does an emerging artist adapt to the changing landscape of the art industry now”.

Studio Visits:

Biraaj Dodiya, Studio Jadughar with Sahej Rahal

IMMERSE edition 1 was part of the India Art Fair Parallel program. Somaiya Vidyavihar University presented a community event for artists in the form of a group exhibition and fellowship.

The exhibition titled 'IMMERSE' showcased the artwork of 23 independent artists from various cities in India, curated by Shaleen Wadhwana. Out of these 23 artists, 6 were invited to Mumbai for a residency program and an opportunity to interact with the arts ecosystem in Mumbai.

These 6 artists in residence were invited to stay in Mumbai at Somaiya Vidyavihar University for the duration of the exhibition in a short, intensive artist-in-residence program, ensuring they experienced Mumbai and the art ecosystem first-hand.

All proceeds from the purchases at this exhibition went directly to the artist.

Aditya Singh Rajpoot

Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Aditya Singh Rajpoot, based from Jabalpur, is a visual artist who is very observant about the society and surroundings. Aditya earned both of his bachelors and master's degree in painting from Government College of Fine Arts, Jabalpur in the year 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Aditya's artistic journey revolves around his surroundings and the society he lives in. He observed and artistically put his ideas into his artworks to create visuals which do leave impacts on viewers. His main focus is on youth, how today’s young generations behave and spend their time on things which automatically affect the principles and rules of the society.

Aditya talks about the circle of life through his artworks, he often uses symbol's and geometrical shapes to compose his ideas. He loves to do experiments in his works, in his recent works he started using fabric to give more of a mural effect to his paintings. He uses animals, birds and fishes to express his thoughts.

Residency

IMMERSE first edition, Mumbai 2022
APRE HOUSE fourth edition 2023

Show

2023
- MANDU ART FESTIVAL, MANDU MADHYA PRADESH(6^th Jan to 12^th Jan)
- RUPANKAR MADHYA PRADESH STATE AWARD ( 20^th Feb to 26^th Feb )
2022
- 31^st RAVI JAIN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION EXHIBITION, DHOOMIMAL ART GALLERY , 2022
- “EQUALLY GUARANTEED TO ALL WITHOUT RIGARD” INDIA HABITAT CENTER DELHI, 2022
- “YUVA SAMBHAV” organized by RAZA FOUNDATION, BIKANER HOUSE,DELHI
- IMMERSE, CARPE ART , MUMBAI 2022
- RUPANKAR MADHYA PRADESH STATE AWARD ,2022
- ART MART , KHAJURAHO 2022
- RANG MANDALA , ORGANISED BY RAZA FOUNDATION, MANDALA M.P
- ITYADI ART EXHIBITION, JABALPUR 2022

Anilakumar Govindappa

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Born in 1993, in Bangalore, Karnataka, Anilakumar Govindappa is a multidisciplinary artist. While trained as a painter and printmaker, he works across mediums combining printmaking, painting, ceramics, and installations. Anilakumar graduated in Painting from KEN School of Art, Hampi University in 2012 and later completed his master’s in Printmaking from S N School of Art and Communication, University of Hyderabad in 2015.

He has participated in several national and international exhibitions and biennales. He has received the Young Artists Award from the Ministry of Art and Culture, Karnataka Lalit Kala Akademi Scholarship, South Indian Art Exhibition Jury Award – Chandra Ilango Foundation. His works were exhibited at the Osten Biennale of Drawing Skopje in 2016, LandSpaces a group art show – in Chennai in 2019, Chi Gallery – in Iran in 2020, Vusawthis Art Gallery Canada 2020, and Immerse group exhibition – in Mumbai in 2022.

Anilakumar bagged several artists residency programs and workshops such as Karnataka Lalit Kala Akademi Graphic Printmaking Fellowship 2021, Space Studio sculpture residency 2020, Kalakriti residency, Nine Fish Art Gallery residency, National Printmaking Workshop – Visva Bharati University - Santiniketan, Dhi Art Space woodcut workshop and many more.

Anilakumar's work resembles a diary of events that took place in his everyday life. He leaves nothing behind from his observation and the remembrances of such events. The places and people connected with him in a day-to-day environment appear in his images quite often and become a 360-degree view of the life around him. Sometimes, he deliberately implants metaphorical visual elements that resemble his personal interpretation or statements about material existence.

Anilakumar's work is not only about capturing the essence of an event but also conveying its meaning by using metaphors and symbols. He is absorbed in exploring how human beings perceive their world and how they interpret it based on their experiences.

His visual narratives are not just about one thing at a certain time, instead, they are about various things at diverse points and times that turned into a book of short stories eventually. As one walks through the pages, one will come across different moments of life, and it goes on For him, the process of drawing is an extension of his thought process, where there would be no place for anything else other than a pure expression in its primitive preliminary state. The rawness of the drawings reflects the ambiguity of the thoughts running in his mind, and it is where he would relate his thought process with the genuine and humble images that evolved in his drawings.

Awards And Achievements

AMI Arts Festival Youth Award For Visual Art, Kolkata Center For Creativity – Kolkata 2022
Kalanad Grant Program, Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation – Mumbai 2022

Participations And Exhibitions

“Space Studio Alumni Show 2023” Group Exhibition at Space Studio Baroda, September 2023.
“A Reverie of a Memory” solo exhibition, Method Juhu, Mumbai August 2023.
“Fresh Produce”, Group exhibition by Method Art Space at Mumbai June 2022
“IMMERSE” Group exhibition curated by Shaleen Wadhwana, at Somaiya Vidyavihar University – Mumbai March2022

Jaimini kishor Jariwala

Surat, Gujarat, India

Jaimini Jariwala is a visual artist and printmaker based in Surat.She completed her Masters in printmaking and graphics from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University,Vadodara in 2017.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Visual arts (painting) from Surat School of Fine Arts,Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat.

Awards / Shows / Solos / Residencies

Jaimini has received the Space Studio Craft Residency 2022
Part of Immerse residency by carpe arte 2022
Residency in Delhi for “ Albumen print “ and salt print at Maze collective 2022
Residency at Arthshila in Bihar, India 2023
Manorama print maker award, New Delhi, India 2023
She has been a part of many workshops and has also conducted a Cyanotype workshop at KNMA Delhi 2022.

Jayeeta chatterjee

Bolpur, West Bengal, India

Born in Bolpur, West Bengal, in 1995, printmaker Jayeeta Chatterjee currently lives and works in Bangalore, Karnataka. While trained as a printmaker, she works across mediums, combining printmaking, textiles, and embroidery. Jayeeta Chatterjee graduated in Graphic Art (Printmaking) from Visva-Bharati University in 2018 and later got her post-graduation degree (2018-2020) from M.S. University in Printmaking.

She has participated in several national and international exhibitions. She secured third position in the HIT woodcut print festival in Norway and received the GOA prize in Norway. Her works were exhibited in South Korea at the Ulsan woodcut festival. I have participated in many group shows and competitions in India, like Space 118, Akara Art Gallery, Immerse, Shrishti Art Gallery, etc. She participated in the Khoj peers residency in 2021 in Delhi, the Banyan Hearts residency in Hyderabad in 2021, Immerse residency and exhibition in 2022 in Mumbai.

Growing up to see middle-class women in a suburb, she finds their monotonous, routine-bound day-to-day life as necessary subjects as they live as the 'silent', existing but unseen, unnoticed section. Jayeeta observed their limited movements and activities moving around the interior space of a house and, thus, their relationship with the space. On the other hand, she had a continuous quest to build a relationship between her content and medium.

Therefore, she decided to take prints on ‘used sarees’ collected from homemakers and make ‘Nakshi-Kantha’ (traditional embroidery and quilting technique of Bengal), which is essentially a women’s medium - mainly homemaker women’s medium in the context of rural and suburb Bengal. By nurturing the politics of ‘Kantha’,she explores multiple roles of women’s daily chores in interior spaces in the context of an individual's culture, economic stability, the vision of their life, upbringing and so on. quest to build a relationship between her content and medium. Therefore, she decided to take prints on ‘used sarees’ collected from homemakers and make ‘Nakshi-Kantha’ (traditional embroidery and quilting technique of Bengal), which is essentially a women’s medium mainly homemaker women’s medium in the context of rural and suburb Bengal. By nurturing the politics of ‘Kantha’, she explores multiple roles of women’s daily chores in interior spaces in the context of an individual's culture, economic stability, the vision of their life, upbringing and so on.

Group Exhibitions

2023
- ‘Continuum’ a group exhibition at Chemould Colab, Mumbai
- Summer Residency in Chemould colab, Mumbai
2022
- Triloka, Shrishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India
- Yours in truth, curated by Saloni Doshi, Space 118, Mumbai, India
- Ask the cloud to remember, curated by Shreemoyee Moitra, Akara Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
- Immerse, curated by Shaleen Wadhwana, in association with Young Art Support, Somaiya Trust, Carpe Arte, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai,India

Residencies

2023
- Chemould Colab, Mumbai, India.
2022
- Immerse, Artist in residence, curated by Shaleen Wadhwana, in association with Young Art Support, Somaiya Trust, Carpe Arte, Somaiya Vidyavihar University Mumbai, India.

Satyanarayana Gavara

Narayanapuram, Andhra Pradesh, India

Gavara Satyanarayana born in 1997 in Narayanapuram, Andhra Pradesh. He completed his BFA in Printmaking from Andhra University (2018), MFA in Printmaking from M S University of baroda (2020).

Food and the politics behind its production and its consumption have been the most concerning engagement in his works. Satyanarayana has won several awards including the 1 st Print Biennale India Grand Prize Award Lalit Kala Akademi New Delhi in 2018 and State art Gallery Award Hyderabad in 2019 and the Birla Academy award in 2022 and "Abir First take" award 2023.

He has been participated many exhibitions, Which Sky Do Birds Fly, Latitude 28 in 2023; Continuum, Kalakriti 2023; Baroda Annual, Gallery White 2023; Cima 2022; Mini print Triennial, japan 2018; mini print Triennial Ukraine 2021, SYPA in Bangladesh2019. The artist lives and works in Baroda.

Awards

2023
- ABIR First Take - Ahmedabad, india.
2022
- 55^th Annual Exhibition of the Birla Academy award in the category of Graphics.

Residencies

2022
- Immerse residence in mumbai.

Workshops / Art Camps

2022
- Image And To Imagery Organized By Birla Academy Of Art & Culture.

Shows

2023
- "alumni show of residence" at space studio in baroda gujarat.
- Title"FAULT LINES" at Conflictorium in ahmedabad.
- A Group Show "WHICH SKY DO BIRDS FLY"at latitude 28 in new delhi.
- A group show titled "CONTINUUM" at kalakriti art gallery in hyderabad.
- Baroda annual at "Gallery White" in baroda.
2022
- S•O•N•D•E•R a group show at art cube space (vis-a-vis) in kochi.
- "Emerging Pellets" A group exhibition of emerging artists in Shrishti Art Gallery at HYD.
- Swikriti an exhibition of the Awardees of BIRLA ACADEMY's annual art exhibition,2022.
- 30 Under 50 a group show in gallery 079 stories in ahmedabad.
- "anthology on the annexe" in gufa gallery in ahmedabad.
- The 15th edition of "Baroda March" curated by rukshana krishna in a stainless art gallery in new delhi.

Selections

2022
- Ravi Jain Memorial Foundation Annual Awards 2022, Delhi.

Shubham Kumar

Vadodra, Gujarat, India

Shubham Kumar is an artist from Gaya, Bihar and is currently based in Vadodara. His work is informed by familial introspection that traces the politics of land, construction, and regional violence. Images, ideas and creatures from his native land operate as metaphors.

Paintings, fabrication, poetics of space and image transfer are primarily used to make sense of the complex ideological narratives that have been imposed onto the life of the region.

Awards And Residencies

2023
- In search of spaces, Latitude 28, Delhi, India.
- Embark, Ark Gallery, Vadodara, India
- DCAW, Latitude 28, Delhi, India.
2022
- Ghare, Khet,Dera, Latitude 28(Solo), Delhi, India.
- DCAW, Latitude 28, Delhi, India.
- WWWW, Art Incept, Bikaner House, Delhi, India.
- Immerse, Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India.

Awards and Workshops

2022
- Immerse residency, Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India.

Selection Committee:

Puja Vaish (Director, Jehangir Nicholson Arts Foundation), Sameer Kulavoor, Ushmita Sahu (Head Curator & Director, EMAMI Art), Sabih Ahmed (Associate Director and Curator, Ishara Arts Foundation).

Curatorial Mentor:

Shaleen Wadhwana

Curatorial Fellow:

Haifa Maryamm

Location:

Aurobindo, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai

Dates:

8^th-29^th April, 2024

Date of Opening:

13^th April, 2024

Studio Visits:

Vikrant Bhise, Sameer Kulavoor & Lakshmi Madhavan

Presentations:

All IMMERSE artists will be giving presentations of their practice at Chemould Prescott Road as a collaborative event with Chemould CoLab and IMMERSE.

Workshops held by:

Deepthi Sasidharan on archiving, documenting and preserving work. Veerangana Solanki on Writing an Artist Statement. Pankhuri Upadhyay on Copyright laws and agreements. Workshop with Asign on online portfolio management system. Online conversation with Dayanita Singh.

Other visits:

Elephanta Caves with Dr. Pallavi Jambhale, faculty at K J Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies. She has a PhD in and specializes in rock-cut architecture, ancient Indian history and culture and Buddhist art and architecture.

Akash Biswas

Andaman and Nicobar Island, India

My name is Akash Biswas. I am a visual artist from Andaman . I was born on 26 August 1997 in Diglipur from Andaman and Nicobar island. I completed my bachelor in painting from IKSV khairagarh 2019, and masters in painting from Ravindra Bharati University, Kolkata. 2022, the Period of 2019 was very difficult for me.

My art practice is about marine corals. And a few years ago when the covid pandemic was walking I noticed one thing in the sea. Some living corals were slowly dying. The reason for this is that some marine pollution results and because of some missile tests, these corals were slowly dying. Now, since I was involved with it since childhood, it struck me from a sincere heart, and from then on, I started working on it. And during this time many corals were destroyed in Andaman. I am so involved in doing this because Andaman is a tourist place and this is our livelihood.

As a creative person, the identification that Andaman has is slowly disappearing. The observations are worrisome because the islands are home to 89% of India's coral diversity According to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), out of 478 coral species in India, as many as 424 species are found here alone. when day-to-day experiments are done on the ocean and many corals are broken deep down the ocean and I see that as a relation with our life.

Basically, my experience is very difficult for myself Because I saw only a few dead corals around, they were very difficult for me. And emotionally I became so connected to it that I felt like I was separated from my home today. Since then, a plan for this landscape came to my mind. From here, my landscape started with the corals.

Dhiraj Rabha

Goalpara, Assam, India

Dhiraj Rabha was born in a pristine village named Borali Gaon, Assam, India, and grew up in an ex-ULFA detention camp in Goalpara, Assam. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 2016, followed by a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 2021. Later, he completed his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan.

Gaurang Naik

Goa, India

Gaurang Naik (b.1996) has completed his Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting from Goa College of Art (2019), and completed his Masters of Visual Art in Painting from M.S. University of Baroda (2021). Born and brought up in a village in south Goa, surrounded on one side by the iron ore mining hub and on the other by the ancient capital of Goa. His practice tries to evoke the idea of loss and transience. The collision between humans and nature; the consequences this interaction leaves behind in the form of textures, dust, and scars of traces in the surroundings is what captures his attention.

Recently, he has participated in the SAIL Mentorship Programme for Creative Practitioners at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for The Arts (2022), Students Biennale Workshop – “Unmaking conventions: Location as Resource” by Sanchayan Ghosh (2021). He has also been part of group exhibitions Sunaparanta Goa Centre for The Arts, India Art Fair, New Delhi (2022), HH Art Spaces, Goa (2022-23), 102nd The Art Society of India, Mumbai (2020); ‘Into the Vault’ with Goa Artist Collective at the Museum of Goa (2019).

He is also a recipient of the Late Milind Madhukar Bhade Gold Medal, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Vadodara (2022), Gujarat, Batch of 1990 award for best work, Goa College of Art (2019), Late Hanumant B. Neugi Memorial Prize, 44th State Art Exhibition Kala Academy, Goa (2019); Awarded 1st Prize, 43rd State Art Exhibition, Kala Academy, Goa (2018).

Haifa Maryam

Kannur, Kerala, India

I'm a literature graduate currently pursuing an MA in Society & Culture, focusing on oral narratives and visual anthropology. You’ll find me immersed in all things arts, heritage, and culture-related. I’m always up for exploring new cities and discovering the hidden gems be it museums, galleries, second hand book stores or thrift shops.

Harun Al Rashid Mollah

Uluberia, Howrah, India

Harun Al Rashid Mollah (born in 1997, Howrah) completed his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Painting from the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication at the University of Hyderabad, Telangana in 2023.

He also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting from The Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, which he completed in 2021.

Harun's primary area of Interest revolves around exploring native cultures, cultural heritage, and the surrounding social ecosystem, observing how they transform in response to contemporary times.

In his recent artistic practice, he has focused on engaging with and understanding the caste and religious systems, as well as their pros and cons, while also examining their impact on the current socio-political

Lakshya Bhargava

Ghaziabad, India

Lakshya Bhargava is a Visual Artist from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and is currently based in Bangalore. He Completed his Bachelor’s Degree from Bengaluru School Of Visual Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (2018-2022) in Painting.

His current practice is dealing with inquiries concerning his memories, fantasies, exploration of self, queer experiences, queer friendships and scenes of empowerment. They revolve around the ideas of invisibility, fragmented display of reality, and partial truths embedded in everyday conversations and life.

Malik Irtiza

Srinagar, Kashmir, India

Malik Irtiza (Kashmir) is a visual artist whose work traverses across various media such as installation, video, sound, text and sculpture. Situated at the intersection of artistic speculation and historical enquiry, her work seeks to develop possibilities of looking at time and voids to articulate the questions of language, memory, everyday life and history writing in contested territories.

The work locates itself in the void(s), disrupted, incoherent, non-sensible, and de- ordered inarticulations. It takes recourse in folklore, storytelling, myth-making and local histories to open up discussions about fragmented time in contested territories. Irtiza is based in Srinagar, Kashmir.

Shikha Soni

Vadodara, Gujarat, India

Shikha Soni is a visual artist based in Baroda, Gujarat. Her art practice is an inquiry into the nature of the construction of the self and what it means to be human by excavating the interior spaces of one's home, family, childhood, and relationships.

She creates drawings and paintings while also photographing her primary subject - people. She completed her MVA from SNU, Delhi NCR (2023), and her BVA from MSU Baroda (2021). Her works have been exhibited in Kochi-Muziris Students Biennale, Kochi (2022-23)&(2021), Anant Art Gallery, Noida(2023) and India Art Fair (2023).

Surajit Mudi

Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India

Surajit Mudi is an interdisciplinary practitioner working with alternative practices of photography within a variety of spaces. He has been exploring the idea of working with performative image-making practices in public spaces, and looks forward to studying the complexity of interactions, mobilities and publics with which alternative practices of image-making engender and converse. He currently lives and works in Santiniketan.

Umesh Singh

Kurmurhi, Aarah, Bihar, India

Umesh Singh is a visual arts practitioner, research scholar. Singh is a native of the Bihar village of Kurmurhi, which is close to the city of Aarah. He earned a Gold Medal in the subject of Printmaking in 2019 at University of Hyderabad.

In 2017 Umesh completed his fine arts bachelor's degree with a from subject painting from the Banaras Hindu University. He is currently pursuing doctors of philosophy from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in the research area of Ecological Arts practices in Indian Art of 21st Century (Rural Context). He as an artist likes to pursue work in intra-disciplinary art.