Nandita Raman interested in crafting opportunities that bring respite from the demands of self-consciousness where we role play and evaluate ourselves via the other’s gaze, by creating occasions for ease and reflective being. I think of ease as a way of being where we are fully present without trying to define ourselves by, or tailor ourselves to, any role or standards. I consider this work ecologically oriented, invested in decolonizing the medium through decolonizing ourselves by asking how we can live differently.
She utilizes the mediums of relationship building, photography, video, drawing, printmaking, and language to make. Her work has been exhibited at George Eastman Museum, Museum of Moving Images, Duke University, Columbia University and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai. Her work is published in MIT Press’s Performance Art Journal, the Documenta14’s South as a State of Mind, New York Times and the Hindu. She has curated exhibitions in New York and Varanasi.
Nandita studied in the Bard College–International Center of Photography program. She was appointed Associate Professor of Photography at Rhode Island School of Design in 2022 (unable to join), and taught at SUNY Purchase College previously. She teaches in Photography Expanded Fellowship focused on climate, for the Magnum Foundation. Nandita is studying Acupuncture and practices meditation. She finds remarkable overlaps between these and creative practices.
RAMANNANDITA@GMAIL.COM
Exhibition
(Solo and Two Person)
Cinema Play House, Museum of Moving Images, NY, 2018-19 Do Not Forget Me, SepiaEYE, NY, 2018 Body Is A Situation, Baxter st CCNY, NY 2018
Cinema Play House, George Eastman Museum, 2017-18
Lab Experiments in ICP: No Call Number, Library of ICP, New York 2015
When Mountains Rise And Fall Like Waves, John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY 2015
A Different Order, Franz Josephs Kai 3, Vienna, Austria 2014
Remembering Absent Meaning, MFA Studios ICP-Bard, New York 2012
Cinema Play House, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, IN 2011
Cinema Play House, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, NC 2010
(Group) E/Merge: Art of the Indian Diaspora, National Indo-American Museum, Chicago, 2022 Diversidad Sexual, Arroyo de la Plata Gallery, Mexico, 2018 Face Off, SepiaEYE Gallery, NY, 2017 Bounce, SepiaEYE Gallery, NY, 2017
Part Narratives, curator Gayatri Sinha, Bikaner House, Delhi 2017
In each hand I keep each of my eyes, The Hampshire College Art Gallery, MA 2016
Erasing Borders, Hammond Museum, NY 2015
Queer, AP Galeria, Zacatecas, Mexico 2015
Rectangular Squares, SepiaEYE, New York 2014
On Permanence and Change, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York 2014
Do Dovch, PlusMinus Gallery, Žilina, Slovakia 2013
Present Memory, Christopher Henry Gallery New York 2013
Dark Matter, Conveyor Arts, NJ, 2012
Art That Iterates, Columbia University, New York 2012
MFA group show, ICP, New York 2012
Cinema Play House, Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY 2011
Cinema Play House, ArtPost Gallery, South Bend, IN 2011
New York Art Book Fair, 2011 and 2012
Book Exhibition, CCS Museum Library, Bard College, NY 2011
ASA Collective, London 2010
FLATFILE gallery, Chicago 2008
Curatorial Projects
Curator, riktata [emptiness], Photographs of the Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 by Katarina Weslien.
Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, India, 2017
Curator, “I need my memories, they are my documents.” Group show featuring works by Pradeep Dalal, Shambhavi Kaul, Osamu James Nakagawa, Neal Oshima, and Vivan Sundaram.
SepiaEYE Gallery, New York City, NY, 2015
Curator and Jury, The Plural “I” juried group show exploring diverse visions of queerness.
Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY, 2015
Residency
Baxter St Family Residency at STONELEAF, 2022 BAXTER ST at CCNY, 2017
Stanica Zilina‐Zariecie, Slovakia, 2013
Publications/ Editorials
The Tribune, Delhi, June 2018 Race Stories, Lens Blog, New York Times Feb 2018
Hindustan Times's Live Mint, December 2017
British Journal Of Photography, November 2017
South As A State of Mind, Issue #8 Documenta 14, 2016
Mold, 2016
Take issue on Photography,Vol III,Issue12,2013
Dark Matter, Issue No.4, Conveyor Arts, December, 2012
Harper’s Magazine, September 2011
Marg Magazine, September, 2011
The Sunday Guardian, Delhi, April 2, 2011
Elle, India 2010
Outlook Traveler, Delhi (2007, ’08, ’09)
UNESCO Magazine - Power of Creativity, Delhi (2009)
Talks and lectures
School of Art Institute of Chicago, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design, 2020 Columbia University, 2019 College of Staten Island, CUNY, 2014
Indiana University South Bend, 2012
Snite Museum of Art, 2011
University of Notre Dame, 2011
Writing
Walking by Narmada, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol 32, Issue 1
Interview with artists from I need my memories. They are my documents,ICP.org,2015
Text for book Ofrenda photographs by Sebastián Szyd, published by Antennae Collection
Fellowship/ Awards
Documentary Photography Grant, Alkazi Foundation,2016
Director’s Fellowship 2010-11, International Center for Photography
Daylight/CDS Photo Awards Project Prize 2010
Nominated for Paul Huf Award 2010
SARAI independent fellowship for photographing Cinema Halls (2006)
Public Collection
George Eastman Museum Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts
Snite Museum of Art
Library of International Center of Photography
Center For Curatorial Studies Library, Bard College
Fairs
Paris Photo, L.A. 2013
Paris Photo, Paris 2013
Teaching Mentor, Photography Expanded Fellowship, The Magnum Foundation 2023 onwards Family Associate Professor of Photography, RISD 2022 (Unable to join due to unforeseen caregiving responsibilities) Professor of Photography, Purchase College SUNY 2017-22
Visiting Artist/ Workshops
Photography Seminar, College of Staten Island, CUNY 2015
Photographic History and Genres, International Center of Photography, Summer 2014
Educational Guide at Dia: Beacon February 2014 -
Digital filmmaking Pre-college class, Westchester Community College, 2013
Workshop on Photography, BFA students at B.H.U, Varanasi, India, 2012
Education
MFA Bard-ICP Advanced Photographic Studies in Photography, NY, 2012
Bachelor of Arts, University of Delhi, 2008
Diploma in Communication Design from National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, 2000