SHEBA CHHACHHI
Indian artist and women’s rights activist Sheba Chhachhi has been awarded this year’s Prix Thun for Art and Ethics Award, which recognizes artists who promote sustainability in their work. As the second recipient of the prize, which was established by artist George Steinmann who grew up in Thun, Switzerland, Chhachhi will receive $25,000.
Chhachhi’s career launched in the 1980s with her documentary photographs of the women’s movement in India. In the 1990s, Chhachhi began making the large-scale multimedia installations for which she is well known. Based in New Delhi, the artist works with other female artists to bring about awareness of the challenges faced by women at all levels of society. She also often investigates questions of gender, eco-philosophy, violence, and cultural memory in her practice. Chhachhi’s works have been featured in a number of solos shows over the years, including “Sheba Chhachhi” (2008-2009) at Walsh Gallery in Chicago; “Women of the Cloth: Photographic Conversations” (2007) and “Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia” (2007-2008) at Nature Morte in New Delhi; and “Ganga’s Daughters, Nellkanth: Poison/Nectar, When the Gun is Raised, Dialogue Stops” (2005) at the Townsend Centre at the University of California, Berkley.
The jury comprised Steinmann, Jürg Neuenschwander, a film director and producer based in Bern and Paris; Peter Schneemann, a professor at the Institute of Art History at the University of Bern; Jean Ziegler, a professor and sociologist based in Geneva; Helen Hirsch, director of Kunstmuseum Thun; and Marianne Flubacher, head of Thun’s cultural department. The prize will be presented to Chhachhi during a ceremony on August 25.
A long time chronicler of the women's movement in India, as both photographer and activist, Sheba Chhachhi, moved from documentary practice in the early 90's to developing collaborative, staged photographic portraits with her subjects. A practice that draws on both- the vernacular studio tradition and documentary - her photographic work is predicated on building a relationship with her subjects, the photographs emerging from an invitation to perform the self. Both photographer and installation artist, the desire to reinvest the viewing of photographs with time underwrites her use of the photographic image within installation works. Brought together in space with found or 'sculpted' objects, sound, light, video, the installations address ongoing concerns –the question of transformation, retrieving the marginal and the play between the mythic and social in the context of gender, body, representation, urban ecologies, violence and visual culture.Most recently, she has been preoccupied with the interregnum offered by the mechanically moved still image and has developed a new artistic language, the moving image light box, which use a series of still and moving layers of photographic images to almost cinematic effect. Public art interventions are an important arena for Chhachhi and she has created several onsite works in the city of Delhi over the last few years.Sheba Chhachhi was born in 1958 in Harar (Ethiopia), studied at Delhi University, Chitrabani, Kolkata and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She has exhibited widely in India, Europe, Japan, South America and the U.S.A since 1993. She has published writings, given talks and conducted workshops, research and projects relating to women, conflict, urban ecologies, visual culture and contemporary art practice in India and South Asia. She lives and works in Delhi.
Indian artist and women’s rights activist Sheba Chhachhi has been awarded this year’s Prix Thun for Art and Ethics Award, which recognizes artists who promote sustainability in their work. As the second recipient of the prize, which was established by artist George Steinmann who grew up in Thun, Switzerland, Chhachhi will receive $25,000.
Chhachhi’s career launched in the 1980s with her documentary photographs of the women’s movement in India. In the 1990s, Chhachhi began making the large-scale multimedia installations for which she is well known. Based in New Delhi, the artist works with other female artists to bring about awareness of the challenges faced by women at all levels of society. She also often investigates questions of gender, eco-philosophy, violence, and cultural memory in her practice. Chhachhi’s works have been featured in a number of solos shows over the years, including “Sheba Chhachhi” (2008-2009) at Walsh Gallery in Chicago; “Women of the Cloth: Photographic Conversations” (2007) and “Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia” (2007-2008) at Nature Morte in New Delhi; and “Ganga’s Daughters, Nellkanth: Poison/Nectar, When the Gun is Raised, Dialogue Stops” (2005) at the Townsend Centre at the University of California, Berkley.
The jury comprised Steinmann, Jürg Neuenschwander, a film director and producer based in Bern and Paris; Peter Schneemann, a professor at the Institute of Art History at the University of Bern; Jean Ziegler, a professor and sociologist based in Geneva; Helen Hirsch, director of Kunstmuseum Thun; and Marianne Flubacher, head of Thun’s cultural department. The prize will be presented to Chhachhi during a ceremony on August 25.
A long time chronicler of the women's movement in India, as both photographer and activist, Sheba Chhachhi, moved from documentary practice in the early 90's to developing collaborative, staged photographic portraits with her subjects. A practice that draws on both- the vernacular studio tradition and documentary - her photographic work is predicated on building a relationship with her subjects, the photographs emerging from an invitation to perform the self. Both photographer and installation artist, the desire to reinvest the viewing of photographs with time underwrites her use of the photographic image within installation works. Brought together in space with found or 'sculpted' objects, sound, light, video, the installations address ongoing concerns –the question of transformation, retrieving the marginal and the play between the mythic and social in the context of gender, body, representation, urban ecologies, violence and visual culture.Most recently, she has been preoccupied with the interregnum offered by the mechanically moved still image and has developed a new artistic language, the moving image light box, which use a series of still and moving layers of photographic images to almost cinematic effect. Public art interventions are an important arena for Chhachhi and she has created several onsite works in the city of Delhi over the last few years.Sheba Chhachhi was born in 1958 in Harar (Ethiopia), studied at Delhi University, Chitrabani, Kolkata and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She has exhibited widely in India, Europe, Japan, South America and the U.S.A since 1993. She has published writings, given talks and conducted workshops, research and projects relating to women, conflict, urban ecologies, visual culture and contemporary art practice in India and South Asia. She lives and works in Delhi.
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