Through her lens-based work, artist Manjari Sharma seeks to explore a visual narrative within her practice that consists of photography, collage, sound, & projection. Embedding multiculturalism, identity, memory, and mythology, Sharma’s work captures the inner workings of the human mind and experiences through her depiction of her loved ones, everyday people, and even herself as the subject. She tells personal and intimate stories through her meaningful and organic work, essentially activating the senses, both visually and auditory. Pulling from themes of femininity, loss, vulnerability, and family, Sharma’s visually stunning work is her artistic quest to tell interconnected stories.
Manjari Sharma, raised in Mumbai, India, is an LA-based artist. Manjari's practice is shaped by her cultural curiosity about the inner landscape of the human mind and its inextricable, elemental, and sacred relationship to ritual, identity, memory, and mythology. Manjari's artwork is a culmination of her deep-seated interest in studying, questioning, and celebrating epic states of human imagination, history, performance, and transformation. Manjari uses Photography, sound, collage, and projection in her storytelling. Manjari was born in 1979 and raised in Mumbai, India. After completing an undergraduate program in Still photography and audio-video production, she moved to the United States to pursue a second Bachelor's program in Fine Art at Columbus College of Art and Design. After moving to New York City, she gained notoriety for her first long-term project titled "The Shower Series." With this series, Manjari began her journey of doing work that was just as much about the materiality of water as it was about the inner landscape of the human mind. Works from 'The Shower Series' were invited, published, and exhibited on numerous blogs and traveled to galleries and festivals worldwide. A decade later, expanding her art practice, Manjari continues to explore similar themes incorporating sound, motion, and projection in her new series titled "Surface Tension."
Manjari's project 'Darshan,' a photographic re-imagining of Hindu deities, garnered her wide critical acclaim. Her works were recognized by The New York Times, Vice Magazine, CNN, LA Times, The Huffington Post, and NPR, to name a few. 'Darshan' was also recently published as a "One book series" limited edition book with Nazaraeli Press. In 2017 the Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned Manjari to create a collaborative series favorably reviewed in the New York Times by acclaimed Art critic Roberta Smith. "To See Your Face" has since continued to travel to multiple galleries and museums. Apart from making art, Manjari is passionate about teaching and diverse community building. Manjari is an associate professor at Art Center College of Design, and she has guest lectured and critiqued at institutions such as The School of M.F.A, Boston, The Rubin Museum of Art, Asia Society Houston, Texas, The School of Visual Arts, and Maine Media Workshops. Manjari's work is in the permanent collection of The MET, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Carlos Museum, and Birmingham Museum of Art, amongst various private collections.
When describing an ongoing body of work exploring sarees, Sharma says:
“I think of the saree and its many layers, like the roots of a tree or the yards of fabric, becoming a generational binder or the tie that connects families of Indians all over the globe. The fact that it begins from a singular "thread" and turns into a constellation of relationships and ancestry is incredible to me.”
Loss and Resurrection: A letter to my daughter series
How to wear a Sari series
The Shower Series series
Water series
Darshan series