SHARMISTHA KAR |
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Sharmistha Kar
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Sharmistha Kar is an art practitioner from India and currently living and working in London, Ontario. She holds an MFA from Western University, focusing on hand-embroidery.
Kar’s early education began in West Bengal, India and later continued in Hyderabad where she pursued higher education in Fine Arts at the University of Hyderabad in 2009. She then pursued her studio practice as an invited artist at Space Studio, Vadodara, Gujarat, India returning to Hyderabad in 2012 to join the International Institute of Information Technology as a lecturer. She was awarded the prestigious Charles Wallace India Trust Award to do a three months artist in residence program at Newcastle University, United Kingdom in 2013. After her return, she worked as a visiting faculty member at Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University in Hyderabad. She was awarded with the Gold Medal for First Rank as an MFA, University of Hyderabad in 2009; and Dean’s and Chair’s Entrance Scholarships at Western University, London, Ontario in 2016, as well as the Graduate Thesis Research Award in 2018. Kar’s journey with hand-embroidery started as a student in Calcutta, India, and she has used that knowledge as a medium in her art practice, from 2008 onward, along with drawing and painting. She has exhibited in India, UK, the USA, Finland and in Canada. Kar is one of the artists involved in GardenShip & State which will open at Museum London in September 2021. For more information, please visit her website. |
“Soft Shelter-Tabernacles and the river," 2020
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The work, titled Soft Shelter-Tabernacles and the river, focuses on the Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River and also known as the Thames River) in London, Ontario. Rivers are fundamental to human society because it was in river valleys and deltas that the first great civilizations were found around agriculture. I see the Deshkan Ziibi almost every day, especially when crossing one of the many bridges that span it. I am always fascinated that the human structures around rivers depend on the river as a life source. The rivers, however, are organic and take different shapes at different times, regardless of the human societies developing around them. I am aware of and sincerely appreciate the active ongoing project to maintain the Deshkan Ziibi's well-being in London, Ontario. This particular work reflects the idea of growth, mobility, personhood in nature and culture from an individual experience. |
Recent work by Sharmistha
Soft Shelter IV, 2018
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Map of London , 2016-17
"Knowing Her—Malala Yousafzai," hand embroidery and found lace flower, 2014
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