Rummana Hussain
Rummana Hussain | |
|---|---|
| Born | , 1952 |
| Died | , 1999 (aged −25) |
| Occupation | Conceptual artist |
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Rummana Hussain (born 1952, died 1999) was an artist and one of the pioneers of conceptual art, installation, and politically-engaged art in India.[1]
Biography
Hussain was born in [(Lucknow]), India to a prominent Muslim family. For much of her career, Hussain worked in oil and watercolor. She created largely allegorical figurative paintings.[2][3] Her art underwent a significant transformation, however, after the events of 1992 in Ayodhya, India – a conflict between Hindu and Muslim communities which led to the destruction of the Babri Masjid.[4] In response to the communal violence of the events, as well as to her sudden exposure to ideological assault as a Muslim, Hussain’s art not only became more explicitly political as well as personal, but it moved away from traditional media towards installation, video, photography, and mixed-media work.[5] Throughout the 1990s, Hussain participated in exhibitions and events organized by SAHMAT, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, alongside other politically-conscious artists and performers.[6] She was invited to be an artist-in-residence at Art in General in New York, in 1998, just a year before she died, at age 47, after a battle with cancer.[7] Hussain’s work has been on view in exhibitions and art fairs worldwide, including at Tate Modern, in London, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), in Mumbai, Smart Museum, in Chicago, the 3rd Asia Pacific Triennial, in Brisbane, Australia, and at Talwar Gallery, which represents the estate of the artist.[8] Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Queensland Art Gallery, in Queensland, Australia.
Work
Hussain is cited as one of the foremost leaders in the development of conceptual art in India, and is credited with bringing the possibilities and merits of diverse media to critical and popular attention.[9] Despite her association with conceptual art, however, Hussain’s work remains grounded in the physical using, rather than ignoring, the “sensuousness” of the various materials that make up her installations.[10] Critics often reference this emphasis on materiality in the discussion of the social, specifically feminist, concerns of much of Hussain’s oeuvre which acknowledges female corporeality as its starting point.[11] Several of her video and performance-based pieces, for example, center on Hussain’s own body – a tactic that positions her work at a unique juncture between the political and personal, the public and private. According to art historian Geeta Kapur, Hussain “makes [female and religious identity] matter in a conscious and dialectical way…she not only pitches her identity for display, she [also] constructs a public space for debate.”[12] Hussain's work both establishes an effective relationship with the viewer, and challenges him or her to act.
Notable Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2012
Talwar Gallery, New York, NY, US[13]
2010
Talwar Gallery, Fortitude from Fragments, New Delhi, India[14]
1998
Art in General, In Order to Join, New York, NY, US[15]
1994
Gallery Chemould, Fragments/Multiples, Mumbai, India, and travel to
- L.T.G. Gallery, New Delhi, India
1991
Centre for Contemporary Art, New Delhi, India
1991
Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay, India [16]
1986
Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi, India
1984
Triveni Gallery, New Delhi, India
1983
Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta, India
Group Exhibitions
2013
Smart Museum, The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India Since 1989, Chicago, IL, US[17]
2009
Talwar Gallery, Excerpts from Diary Pages, New York, NY, US[18]
Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), IMAGE MUSIC TEXT, SAHMAT (20 Years)], New Delhi, India[19]
2007
Rose Art Museum, Tiger by the Tail!, Waltham, MA, US and travel to
- Lowe Art Museum, Miami, FL, US
- Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C., US
- The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, US
- Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, US
2004
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India, Perth, Australia, and travel to
- National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, India
- Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico
- Tamayo Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
- Asia Society, New York, NY, US
2002
Vancouver Art Gallery, Moving Ideas: A Contemporary Cultural Dialogue with India, Vancouver, Canada, and travel
2001
Tate Modern, Century City, London, UK
1999
Queensland Art Gallery, The Third Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland, Australia
1997
Victoria Art Gallery, Telling Tales, British Council, Bath, UK
Royal Norwegian Embassy, Crosscurrents: Museums of Ethnography, New Delhi, India
Mills College Art Museum, Women Artists of India: A Celebration of Independence, Oakland, CA, US
1995
Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), Postcards for Gandhi, New Delhi, India
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Inside Out: Contemporary Women Artists of India, Middlesbrough, UK
1993
Husain Ki Sarai, Exhibition in Aid of Earthquake Victims, Faridabad, India
1992
Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), Images and Words, New Delhi, India
Tata Centre, Calcutta, India
Performance and Video
1998
Art in General, Residency, New York, NY, US
1997
Artspace Studios, Residency, Bristol, UK
1996
Ministry of Human Resource Development Senior Fellowship (Visual Arts), New Delhi, India
References
- ^ Vandana Kalra, “Musings from the Past,” The Indian Express, October 12, 2010.
- ^ Holland Cotter, “Rummana Hussain, 47, Indian Conceptual Artist”, The New York Times, July 18, 1999.
- ^ Anupa Mehta, “An Inward Journey,” The Independent, March 30, 1994.
- ^ "Ten memorable exhibitions from last year," Art Asia Pacific, January 2013.
- ^ Ranjit Hoskote, "The Metaphor Survives," The Times of India, April 17, 1994.
- ^ Kamala Kapoor, "Home Nation," Art Asia Pacific, 1997.
- ^ Holland Cotter, “Rummana Hussain: In Order to Join,” The New York Times, October 16, 1998.
- ^ Talwar Gallery, Rummana Hussain: Biography, http://talwargallery.com/rummana-bio/
- ^ Anupa Mehta, “What’s a bicycle doing in the art gallery?”, The Independent, March 30, 1994.
- ^ Roshan Shahani, Ways of Seeing in ’94, 1994.
- ^ Vishwapriya L. Iyengar, "Looking for meaning in myriad," The Asian Age, December 2009.
- ^ Geeta Kapur, “The Courage of being Rummana,” Art India, January–April 1999.
- ^ http://talwargallery.com/rummana-ny-pr/ (press release)
- ^ "Rummana Fragments-Press Release « TALWAR GALLERY". talwargallery.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
- ^ "Art in General". artingeneral.org. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
- ^ Was there personally, bought 'Big Fish Eats Litte Fish' Thomas Hochgesang
- ^ "The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989 - Archived - Exhibitions - Smart Museum of Art — The University of Chicago". smartmuseum.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
- ^ http://talwargallery.com/diarypages-pr/ (press release)
- ^ "IMAGE MUSIC TEXT 20 years of SAHMAT Exhibition". sahmat.org. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
External links
- Rummana Hussain in the permanent collection of the Queensland Art Gallery.
- Art India, The Courage of Being Rummana, January–April 1999.
- The Indian Express, Musings from the Past, October 12, 2010.
- The New York Times, Rummana Hussain, 47, Indian Conceptual Artist, July 18, 1999.
- The New York Times, Rummana Hussain, October 23, 1998.
- The New York Times, Rummana Hussain: In Order to Join, October 16, 1998.