PENUMBRA WORKSPACE PROGRAM | US-Based | 2023
Priya Suresh Kambli
– (2023 Jury)
Image © Priya Suresh Kambli. Courtesy of the artist.
“[…] As an artist whose work is bound in the personal and irrefutably placed in the context of a migrant narrative, the question in play is how does the personal (or private) intersect with the political (or public). Devhara is a response to the crises of our time, a transformation of my creative practice, a re-appropriation of abstraction from the realm of western artists and its’ re-centering within global creative practice. It asserts that the creative output of artists of color is not limited to the reenactment of traumas upon our bodies for a white audience. […]”
Priya Suresh Kambli received her BFA at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and an MFA from the University of Houston. She is currently Professor of Art at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
Kambli’s work inadvertently examines the question asked by her son Kavi at age three; did she belong to two different worlds, since she spoke two different languages? The essence of this question continues to be a driving force in her art making. In her work, Kambli has always strived to understand the formation and erasure of identity that is an inevitable part of the migrant experience, exploring the resulting fragmentation of family, identity, and culture.
Kambli has exhibited, published, collected and reviewed in the national and international photographic community. She was the winner of the inaugural Female in Focus, 2019 award - aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in the industry by highlighting the exceptional quality of work by female photographers around the world. She is also the winner of the 2021 Individual Artist Outstanding Artist by the Missouri Arts Council. The success of Kambli’s work underlines the fact that she is engaged in an important dialogue, and reinforces her intent to make work driven by a growing awareness of the importance of many voices from diverse perspectives and the political relevance of our private struggles.
SPONSORS
This program is supported by Henry Nias Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Jacques & Natasha Gelman Foundation, The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, The Ruth Foundation for the Arts, and Roz Leibowitz.
Thanks to the following artists for their support to Penumbra Foundation and in particular to the 2023 Penumbra Workspace Program:
Cynthia Johnston, Dawn Kim, Donavon Smallwood, Dylan Hausthor, Emiliano Zuñiga, J Carrier, Jenia Fridlyand, Kate Ovaska, Ruth Lauer-Manenti, and Tim Carpenter.