Manjari Sharma is an LA-based artist exploring Ritual, Identity, memory, and mythology. Manjari was born and raised in Mumbai, India. Expanding her art practice, Manjari has continued incorporating sound, motion, projection, and collage into her work. Manjari's project 'Darshan' (Published by Nazraeli Press) is a photographic re-imagining of Hindu deities that garnered her wide critical acclaim. Manjari's work has been seen in The New York Times, Vice Magazine, CNN, LA Times, The Huffington Post, and NPR, to name a few. Works from her projects have been published, exhibited, and traveled to galleries, museums, and festivals worldwide. Manjari's work is in the permanent collection of The MET, MFA, Houston, Carlos Museum, and Birmingham Museum of Art, amongst various private collections. Manjari’s works are Represented by Assembly and Richard Levy Gallery
Contact
info@manjarisharma.com
C.V.
Institutional Collections
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York City, NY
Museum of Fine Arts – Houston, TX
The Birmingham Museum of Art – Birmingham, AL
The Carlos Museum, Emory University – Atlanta, GA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art – Santa Barabara, CA
Select Solo Shows and Site-Specific Installations
Expanding Darshan, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, December 16th, 2023 - April 14th, 2024
Surface Tension Site Specific Installation in the pool at La Colombe D’or presented by Assembly and commissioned by SohoHouse, Houston, Texas, September 8th, 2023
Surface Tension Site Specific Installation in the pool at the Bishop’s Lodge Auberge Resort, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 20, 2023
Surface Tension, Assembly Gallery, Houston, Texas, September 9, 2023 - November 4, 2023
Surface Tension, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 6, 2023 - July 15, 2023
Expanding Darshan, To See and To Be Seen, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, March 18, 2022 - May 2023
Circularity, Teiger Gallery for the Studio Arts., Newark Academy, Livingston, New Jersey, October 2022
Talking Pictures, Camera Phone Conversations Between Artists, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR, January 2019
Surface Tension, The Squire Foundation Residency, Santa Barbara, CA, March 2019
Darshan, Ganna Walska LotusLand, Montecito, CA, June, 2018
Darshan, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, October 2017
The Shower Series, ClampArt, New York City, NY, September 2013
Water, The Shower Series, Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, January 2011
The Shower Series, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico, July 2010
Select Group Shows
Another World, Richard Levy Gallery, January 9-February 25, 2022
Mother, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark, February 3 - May 30, 2021
Mutter, To See Your Face, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany, July 2 - November 7, 2021
Visions of Light, TZ Projects, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, November 19 - November 29, 2020
Eleven Figures in Two Parts, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Curated by John Connelly, January 17 – February 14, 2020
Transcendental Deities, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, Curated by Elizabeth Horner, January 2 – October 15, 2020
Parenthood, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA, Curated Selene Foster, September 15 – December 30, 2018
Sanskrit, Prince House Gallery, Mannheim, Germany, August 2 – September, 2018
Talking Pictures, Camera Phone Conversations Between Artists. Curated by Mia Fineman, Gallery of Contemporary Photography, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY, June 26 – December 17, 2017
Reflections of India, Kunst Museum De Moritzburg, Curated by Cornelia Weig. Halle, Germany, June – October, 2017
Context, Filter Photo Festival, Curator, Michal Raz Russo, Chicago, IL, February 10 – March 27, 2015
21 artists, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India, October 28 – November 15, 2015
The Fence at Photoville, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NYC, NY, June 18 – October 1, 2014
Aperture Summer Open, Curated by Chris Boot, NYC, NY, July 17 – August 14, 2014
Romeo and Juliet, Sasha Wolf Gallery, NYC, Group Show, June 18 – August 10, 2014
The curve, CCA Gallery, Curated by Erin Elder, Santa Fe, NM, June 14 – August 10, 2014
Transcendental Deities of India, Asia Society Texas Center, Curated by Bridget Bray, Houston, Texas, May – September 2, 2014
New Yorker + Creative Time, Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC, NY, May 4, 2013
Look3, Festival of the photograph, Curated by Melissa Harris, Yolanda Cuomo, Charlottesville, VA, June 13 – June 15, 2013
Social Order, Contemporary Women Photographers from Iran, India and Afghanistan. Curated by Ann Pallesen, Seattle, WA, October 26 – December 15, 2012
About Face, Gallery 339, Philadelphia, PA, July 22 – September 10, 2011
Double Consciousness, C street Gallery, Curated by Elle Perez, Baltimore, Maryland, May 5 – June 18, 2011
Across the Divide, Curated by Todd Hido, Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, Oregon, March 4, 2011
Espacio Nudage, Curated by Jose Luis Carballo, Santander, Spain, January 24-30
Sultry, Curated by Kris Graves Projects, Brooklyn, NY, July 9 – August 14, 2010
Elements of Water, Curated by John Paul Caponigro, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado, October 2 – November 17, 2009
Close Up, Curated by Nina Trivedi, NYC, NY, September 18, 2008
Eye on The Strand, CCPS Gallery, Curated by Lesley Martin and Darren Ching, NYC, NY, July 15, 2009
Publications
Dodge and Burn Book, Edited by Qiana Mestrich, 2024
Expanding Darshan; Edited by Katherine Ann Paul, Birmingham Museum of Art, 2022
Darshan, Nazraeli Press, 2019
Photowork; Edited by Sasha Wolf, Aperture Foundation, 2019
The Power of Meaning – Emily Esfahani Smith, 2017
Indien, Edited by Christian Philipsen; in conjunction with Thomas Bauer-Friedrich and Cornelia Wieg, 2017
Awards and Honors
Columbus College of Art and Design Joseph V Canzani Alumni Award, 2018
Critical Mass Top 50, Photolucida, 2016
1st Place Curator's Choice Award, Malcolm Daniel, CENTER, Santa Fe, 2014
Honorable Mention Santa Fe Prize 2012, Center Awards, 2012
Outstanding Student, Achievement award, S.V.T. College, Mumbai, India, 2000
Speaking and Workshop Engagements
Art Talk: Manjari Sharma and Katherine Anne Paul, Phoenix Art Museum, Dec 16th, 2023
An Intimate Conversation About The Making and Surfacing of Art, with Elizabeth Cheng Krist and curator Hamidah Glasgow, August 25th, 2022
Create, Refine, Reflect, Workshop for Filter Photo Festival, Chicago, September 29th, 2023
Bridging The Personal to the Universal, Maine Media Workshop, September 3rd, 2021
Building a body of work in the real world, La Luz Workshop, October 28th, 2021
Manjari Sharma and Maa Kali, Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, April 25th, 2020
Artist Talk and Book Signing, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA, Feb 26th, 2020
Art, Body, and Storytelling, ĀINĀ, Reflecting South Asia in Hawaii, Asia-Pacific, and Beyond, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, April 25th, 2019
Featured Speaker, Eddie Adams Workshop, Jeffersonville, NY, October 8th 2018
Photojournalism & Motherhood, Panel Talk, Women Photograph, NYC, NY, September 17th, 2018
Visiting Artist Talk, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, Oct 27, 2017
Intersections: Creativity & Spirituality, Panel Talk with Pico Iyer and Bridget Bray, at Lotus Land, Montecito, CA, June 5th, 2018
Artist talk, Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, TX, July 19th, 2014
Artist talk, Alfond Auditorium, The School of Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA, April 1st, 2014
Long Term Storytelling: Panel Talk, Flash Forward, Magenta Foundation, Boston, MA, May 4th, 2014
Select Print and Online Press
“Ritual Lens,” Spiral, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023
Surface Tension, Reviewed by Simran Tuteja, Musée Magazine, 2023
Stunning Art Exhibition and Soho House Pool Party Bring Surface Tension to Houston — By Haley Berkman Karen, Paper City, 2023
Soho House dips into Houston for 'Cities Without Houses' party at La Colombe d'Or hotel, Houston Chronicle, 2023
In the Eyes of the Gods: Manjari Sharma, to See and Be Seen, Wall Street Journal, 2022
Very Human Gods: An Interview with Manjari Sharma by Katherine Oktober Matthews, Riding The Dragon, 2022
Expanding Darshan’: Photographs from contemporary artist Manjari Sharma to open at the Birmingham Museum of Art,
Reviewed by Shauna Stuart, AL.com, 2022
The Daily Edit, Manjari Sharma, Interviewed by Heidi Volpe, A Photo Editor, 2021
A love letter to America, The Santa Barbara Independent Op-ed, 2020
Ancient Deities Still Transcendent, The Alexander Report, 2020
Transcendent Deities at Carlos brims with divine ideas, Arts Atlanta, Review:, 2020
Transcendent Deities of India at Emory’s Carlos Museum, Khabar.com, 2020
Threshold Spaces: Rethinking Eleven Figures during Quarantine, Lum Art Zine, 2019
Depictions of Indian gods and goddesses explored at Carlos, NRI pulse, 2019
God in the Photo, Essay by Stephen C. Pinson, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle, 2017
An Exhibition Worth Thousands of Words, Reviewed by Roberta Smith, New York Times, 2017
Two Pregnant Photographers Only Spoke Through Camera-Phone Images for Six Months, Vice Magazine, 2017
“Talking Pictures: Camera-Phone Conversations Between Artists” Review: Photography in the Age of the iPhone, Wall Street Journal, By Richard B. Woodward, August 15th, 2017
"Talking Pictures, Camera Phone conversations between artists, At the MET, Musee Magazine, August 3rd 2017
Famous Artists Swap iPhone Photos and Creativity Ensues, By Alexxa Gotthardt, Artsy, 2017
Timeless Allure of Darshan, Huffington Post, Arts and Culture, 2014
Manjari Sharma Interviewed by Barbara Davidson, LA Times, 2014
Asia Society Exhibit spotlights Hindu deities, Houston Chronicle, 2014
20 Pathbreaking Women Photographers, Better Photography, 2014
Shared Cultures: The power of transcendence through Photography, Nueva Luz Photographic Journal, Darshan, 2014
Connecting Hindu Gods and Humans, by James Estrin, New York Times, Lens Blog, 2013
Shower Confessionals, CNN PhotoBlog, 2013
Reframed: In conversation with Manjari Sharma, Framework, La Times, 2013
15 South Asian Artists and Illustrators to watch, Buzzfeed, 2013
The Hundred Richest Indians, Forbes India, Collectors Edition, 2012
The Beauty and Chaos of Gods, New York Times, Lens Blog, 2012
Teaching Experience
Associate Professor, Photo and Imaging, Adjunct Faculty for Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, (2022-Present)
Visiting Lecturer and Guest Critic, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (2015-present)
Board Positions
Board Chair, Executive Board, Artbridge, New York, NY, 2016–present
Board Member, Common Table Foundation, Santa Barbara, CA, 2019 - 2021
Board Member, American Society of Media Photographers, New York, NY, 2008 - 2011