REMEMBERING HEMA UPADHYAY

ANW I DELHI I DEC 26, 2015 I 1st Published 1050

Art Newsweekly and Vadehra Art Gallery expresses profound grief over the demise of one of the most talented Indian artists, Hema Upadhyay. We will remember Hema fondly as a committed, skilful, and hardworking artist, and as a dear and loving friend.

Born in 1972, Hema moved to Mumbai after completing her M.F.A in Printmaking and B.F.A in Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. Upon experiencing the shift to the city, she was inspired to make artworks which spoke about the culture and dynamics of Mumbai as a metropolis. What particularly interested her were the issues of migration, dislocation, and imagining herself amongst many others who came to the city looking to find a place for themselves. She always paid attention to the details, to the miniscule and to the ordinary, and created art which could talk of the self in a larger social-cultural context. Hema's work reflected on the transience of materials, and were largely narrative and autobiographical.

Her first solo show show was, Sweet Sweat Memories, at Gallery Chemould, Mumbai in 2001. In 2007, her solo show, The Glass House was shown at the Vadehra Art Gallery in London. We facilitated her solo exhibition, Universe Revolves On at Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), Singapore, in 2008 and Extra Ordinary, a solo show of her works at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi in 2012. There were many other group shows at Vadehra Art Gallery, that she was a part of. Most recently, her work was shown at Excavation/Eruption, a group show curated by Yashodhara Dalmia at Vadehra Art Gallery in February, 2015.

Her work has been shown at various important museums and centers of art around the world such as the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), Singapore; National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai; The Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo;  Vasl International Artists Residency, Karachi; The Zimmerly Art Museum, New Jersey; Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem; Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy, etc.

Hema challenged the notion of material and medium by continuously experimenting and extending it to newer forms. Using photography, sculpture, installations and painting she had the ability and understanding to engage with the possibilities of the particular mediums, adding value and strength through her thought-driven process.