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{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Pushpamala N.
| image = Pushpamala N. (cropped).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Pushpamala N. during Khoj Live, 2012
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1956}}
| birth_place = Bengaluru, India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Indian
| education = Bangalore University, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
| field = [[Photography]]
| training =
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| awards =
| spouse =
| partner =
| website = {{URL|pushpamala.com}}
}}

'''Pushpamala N.''' (born 1956) is a photo and visual artist based in [[Bangalore]], India.

Born in [[Bangalore]], Pushpamala formally trained as a sculptor and eventually shifted to photography to explore her interest in narrative figuration.<ref name=Beholder>{{cite web|title=Eye of the beholder: Pushpamala N|url=http://thebigindianpicture.com/2012/11/eye-of-the-beholder-pushpamala-n/|work=thebigindianpicture.com|publisher=The Big Indian Picture|accessdate=2 December 2013}}</ref> Pushpamala has been referred to as "the most entertaining artist-iconoclast of contemporary Indian art ".<ref name=Beyond>{{cite web|title=Beyond the Self|url=http://www.portrait.gov.au/site/exhibition_subsite_beyondtheself_artist.php?artistID=15|work=portrait.gov.au/|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, Canberra|accessdate=2 December 2013}}</ref> Her work has been described as [[performance art|performance]] photography,<ref>[https://archive.today/20130125115818/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2004/03/28/stories/2004032800400800.htm Hinduonnet.com]</ref> as she frequently uses herself as a model in her own work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.noorderlicht.com/eng/fest06/asian/pushpamala/index.html|title=Noorderlicht.com}}</ref> " She is known for her strongly feminist work and for her rejection of authenticity and embracing of multiple realities. As one of the pioneers of conceptual art in India and a leading figure in the feminist experiments in subject, material and language, her inventive work in sculpture, conceptual photography, video and performance have had a deep influence on art practice in India."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biography - Pushpamala N|url=http://www.pushpamala.com/biography/|access-date=2021-04-24|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Pushpamala N|url=http://www.naturemorte.com/artists/pushpamalan/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.naturemorte.com|language=en}}</ref>

She is the recipient of many honours, including a [[National Film Awards|National Film Award]] (1984);<ref name=Guardian>{{cite news|last=Dayal|first=Mahima|title=Classical kitsch: Art of the commons?|url=http://www.sunday-guardian.com/artbeat/classical-kitsch-art-of-the-commons|accessdate=2 December 2013|newspaper=The Sunday Guardian|date=30 November 2013}}</ref> a gold medal at the Sixth Triennale, India (1986); a Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship (1992–93); a Senior Fellowship at the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development (1995–97) and an Arts Collaboration Grant from the India Foundation for the Arts (2000).<ref name="Passionate performance">{{cite web|title=Passionate performance art of Pushpamala N|url=http://www.theartstrust.com/Magazine_article.aspx?articleid=186|work=theartstrust.com|publisher=The Arts Trust|accessdate=2 December 2013}}</ref><ref name=Bose>{{cite web|title=Pushpamala N.|url=http://www.bosepacia.com/artists/pushpamala-n/artist-cv/|work=bosepacia.com|publisher=Bose Pacia|accessdate=2 December 2013}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Pushpamala N. was born in Bangalore, Karnataka. She finished her Bachelors in Economics, English and Psychology from [[Bangalore University]] in 1977, where she studied under [[Balan Nambiar]], renowned Indian artist based in Bangalore.[https://www.deccanherald.com/content/641042/a-silver-celebration.html A silver celebration] <ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Pushpamala N.|url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000097946|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Grove Art Online|year=2017|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T097946|last1=Nagy|first1=Peter A.}}</ref> She then studied Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, [[Maharaja Sayajirao University]] of [[Baroda]], from where she completed her Bachelors in 1982 and Masters in 1985.<ref name="auto"/> At Baroda, artists like sculptor Raghav Kaneria, [[Bhupen Khakhar]] and [[K.G. Subramanyan]] were some of her early influences.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

==Work==
Trained as a sculptor, Pushpamala N's first solo exhibition was at the [[Venkatappa Art Gallery]], [[Bangalore]] in 1983.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} She used terracotta and paper mache as medium in her early works and participated in the landmark exhibition, 'Seven Young Sculptors' curated by [[Vivan Sundaram]], exhibited in New Delhi in 1985.<ref name="Lady and the vamp">{{cite news|last=Indrasimhan|first=Lakshmi|title=The Lady and the Vamp|url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main38.asp?filename=hub050408lady_vamp.asp|accessdate=3 December 2013|newspaper=Tehelka|date=5 April 2008}}</ref> The [[demolition of Babri Masjid]] and the communal violence that ensued in its aftermath, especially the [[Bombay riots]] in 1992–93 heavily inspired her landmark show, 'Excavations' that was exhibited in Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India in 1994.<ref name="Bose" /> 'Excavations' was a conceptual shift from her earlier works as she moved from figurative sculptures to assemblages of objects made of cheap materials and thrown away papers. The project tried to look at contemporary history as an archaeological site.<ref name=Artnews>{{cite web|last=N.|first=Pushpamala|title=Towards Cutting Edge Art: Definitive Attempts|url=http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=towards-cutting-edge-art-definitive-attempts&iid=28&articleid=750|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722150917/http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=towards-cutting-edge-art-definitive-attempts&iid=28&articleid=750|url-status=usurped|archive-date=22 July 2014|work=artnewsnviews.com|publisher=art etc. news & views|accessdate=5 December 2013}}</ref> She explains her shift in the medium, "In my early sculptures, mainly in terracotta, I was interested in creating an indigenous language based on an essential idea of "Indianness", using poor materials and folk art references. A new language had to be used to express the sharp disjunctures and fragmentations in the tumultuous realities around us".<ref name=Artnews />

By later part of the 1990s, Pushpamala N. left sculpture altogether and shifted to photographic works.<ref name=Artnews /> Often created as series, the artist refers to these photographic works as 'photo-romances'. She acknowledges that it was [[Bhupen Khakhar]], painter and her friend who inspired her for this kind of photo performances.<ref name="Lady and the vamp" /> Using her own body to perform the various roles in these series, her 'photo-romances' borrow from popular culture, mythology and historical references interspersed with wit and humour to offer a critique of the contemporary society.<ref name=Beyond /><ref name="Lady and the vamp" /> "Phantom Lady or Kismet, a photo romance," presented as a solo exhibition at Gallery Chemould in 1998, the artist created a series of noir-thriller photographs of herself alternately as a gangster's moll and a masked adventurer.<ref name=Outlook>{{cite news|last=Ravindran|first=Shruti|title=The Self, Out There|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235001|accessdate=5 December 2013|newspaper=Outlook, India|date=2 July 2007}}</ref>

She continued with these photo-romance series with 'Sunhere Sapne' (Golden dreams) that was realized during the 1998 Khoj international workshop at Modinagar, Delhi where she tried to capture the fantasy of an average middle-class housewife, dressed in the urban uniform of housecoat and petticoat, and her alter ego, a girl in a golden frock with a bouffant hairdo.<ref name=Portrait>{{cite news|title=Portrait of an artist as an actress|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/12/16/stories/2002121601140100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030624165518/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/12/16/stories/2002121601140100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 June 2003|accessdate=5 December 2013|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=16 December 2002}}</ref> She followed it with other photo-romance series like 'Dard-e-Dil'(The Anguished Heart) in 2002, a narrative photo sequence set in Chawri Bazaar, Delhi; and 'Bombay Photo Studio' a project that she undertook from 2000–03.<ref name=Bose /><ref name="Lady and the vamp" /> In 2004, her project 'Native women of South India', a collaborative project of performance photography realized with British Photographer Clare Arni, looks at photography as an ethnographic tool and deconstructs the popular images of the 'native' woman.<ref name=Artnews />

Extending the performative aspect of the photo to video films, she made 'Paris Autumn', a work of fiction in the style of a gothic thriller, narrating the story of the artist's stay in Paris in 2005. The 35-minute film of black and white still photographs opened in Galerie Zurcher, Paris, France and has been premiered at different venues across the world.<ref name=Bose /><ref name="Lady and the vamp" /> Her last film, 'Rashtriy Kheer and Desi Salad', an eleven-minute film made in 2007, was about using material from her mother's and mother-in-law's recipe books and is an ironic look at the Indian family post-independence.<ref name="Video Films">{{cite news|author=Staff Reporter|title=Pushpamala comes up with two new works|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/pushpamala-comes-up-with-two-new-works/article1843071.ece|accessdate=5 December 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=16 May 2007}}</ref>

Pushpamala N.'s work has often been compared to American artist [[Cindy Sherman]]'s.<ref name="Lady and the vamp" />

==Selected exhibitions==
'''2019'''

''The Body Politic –'' photographs, video, and sculpture, Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi, India<ref name=":0"/>

'''2015'''

''Khamoshi ki Daastan-'' Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, India<ref>{{Cite web|title=Meera Menezes on B. V. Suresh|url=https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/201603/b-v-suresh-58158|access-date=2021-04-24|website=www.artforum.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

'''2013'''

''Poses and Views-'' A Group Exhibition, Nature Morte Gallery, Berlin, Germany<ref name=":0" />

'''2012'''

''The Return of the Phantom Lady (Sinful City),'' The Oberoi, Gurgaon, India<ref name=":0" />

''Avega- The Passion,'' Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi, India<ref name=":0" />

'''2010'''

''Spiral Jetty-'' A group show with Abishek Hazra, Josh PS, Jeffrey Schiff, Anita Dube, Pushpamala N., and Seher <ref name=":0" />

'''2008'''

''Paris Autumn'' – video and photo installation, Bose Pacia Gallery, New York City;

'''2007'''

''Indian Photo and Media Art: A Journey of Discovery'', Fluss, Vienna, Austria

''Post Object'', Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto, Canada

''Private/ Corporate IV'', DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

''House of Mirrors'', Grosvenor Vadehra Gallery, London

'''2006'''

''India Express'', Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland

''Paris Autumn'', Galerie Zurcher, Paris

''Native Women of South India'', Bose Pacia Gallery, New York

''Another Asia'', Noorderlicht Photofestival 2006, Netherlands

'''2005'''

''Yokohama Triennale'', Open Circle, Japan

''Fiction'', Love, Shanghai, China

'''2004'''

''Edge of Desire'', Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

'''2003'''

''City Park'', Projects Art Centre, Dublin, Ireland

''Phantom Lady and Sunhere Sapne'', Walsh Gallery, Chicago

''The Anguished Heart'', [[Gallery Nature Morte]] and Gallery Chemould, British Council, Delhi

'''2001'''

''Century City'', Tate Modern, London

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*More information and images from the [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/pushpamala_n.htm Saatchi Gallery]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Indian women photographers]]
[[Category:Artists from Bangalore]]
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Bangalore University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian photographers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian photographers]]
[[Category:Indian portrait photographers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:Women artists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Photographers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:20th-century women photographers]]
[[Category:21st-century women photographers]]

Pushpamala N. - Revision history

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