About
Sharbendu De (b. 1978, India) is a contemporary lens-based artist, academic and a writer. He is the 2022 Visiting Artist Fellow at the Harvard University. In 2018, Feature Shoot recognised De as an Emerging Photographer of the Year. He has received multiple grants from the India Foundation for the Arts (2017), Lucie Foundation (2018), Prince Claus Fund & ASEF (2019), MurthyNAYAK Foundation (2021) and KHOJ (2021). He was shortlisted for the LensCulture Visual Storytelling Awards (2019) and Lucie Foundation’s Emerging Artist of the Year Scholarship (2018) among other nominations.
His latest conceptual series An Elegy for Ecology (2016-21) dealing with the subject of climate change and human survival in the anthropocene, premiered at Phantasmopolis at the Asian Art Biennale 2021, Taiwan, organised by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and in India, at his first solo at the SHRINE EMPIRE Gallery, New Delhi (2021-22). His former conceptual series Imagined Homeland (2013-19) on the indigenous Lisu tribe from Arunachal Pradesh has received critical appreciation and is currently exhibited at the prestigious Rencontres d’Arles, France 2022 and the Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China.
De has exhibited across Guangdong Times Museum (2022), BBA Art Gallery, Berlin (2022), Photoville (2022), Rencontres d'Arles, Arles (2022), India Art Fair, New Delhi (2022), Geothe-Institut, Mumbai (2022), Asian Art Biennale, Taiwan (2021), Vadehra Art Gallery (2020-21), Shrine Empire, New Delhi (2021-22, 2020), PhEST, Italy (2020), FORMAT, U.K. (2019), Serendipity Arts Festival, India (2019), OBSCURA, Malaysia (2019), MOPLA, Los Angeles (2019), Voies Off Awards, Rencontres d'Arles Festival, Arles (2018), Indian Photography Festival, India (2018), Tblisi Photo Festival, Georgia (2018), Goethe-Institut (Mumbai & Delhi; 2016 & 2017), Photo Kathmandu (2016), Econtros da Imagem, Portugal (2016) and Diesel Art Gallery, Mumbai (2012) among others. His artworks are part of several private collections.
De has worked in seven natural disasters including the Nepal earthquakes (2015), Jammu & Kashmir Floods (2014), Uttarakhand flash floods (2013 & 2014) and the Asian Tsunami (2004-08). He’s widely travelled across South Asia and photographed stories on environmental conservation, human rights, gender, tribal rights etc.
He has an MA in Photojournalism from the University of Westminster (2010), London, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi, India (2003-04). De has been teaching photography and visual communications across Universities and cultural institutions in India for close to a decade, and also writes on the subject of photography. He lives in New Delhi.
Grants:
2021 Recipient, MurthyNAYAK Foundation, Baltimore, USA
2020 Recipient, ‘Does the Blue Sky Lie? Testimonies of Air’s Toxicities',’ KHOJ International Artists’ Association, New Delhi
2019 Recipient, Prince Claus & ASEF Mobility Fund
2018 Recipient, Photo Made Scholarship, Lucie Foundation
2017 Recipient, Arts Research Grant, India Foundation for the Arts
Awards & Fellowships:
2022 Visiting Artist Fellow, South Asia Institute, Harvard University
2019 Winner, 2nd Prize, Creative Category, International PhotogrVhy Grant
2018 Winner, Feature Shoot Emerging Photographer of the Year
Artist Commissions:
2021 National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
Nominations:
2020 Shortlisted, Copenhagen Photo Festival
2019 Shortlisted, Belfast Photo Festival
2019 & 2018 Shortlisted, Athens Photo Festival
2018 Shortlisted, Emerging Artist of the Year Scholarship, Lucie Foundation
2018 Shortlisted, Voies Off Awards, Rencontres d'Arles festival, France
2017 Shortlisted, Photo Made Scholarship, Lucie Foundation
2017 Nominee- Culture, International PhotogrVhy Grant
Exhibitions:
Solo
2021-22 An Elegy for Ecology, SHRINE EMPIRE Gallery, New Delhi (Curatorial Advisor Ravi Agarwal)
2014 Rebuild Uttarakhand, by Oxfam India & DLF Foundation, New Delhi
2013 Rebuild Uttarakhand, by Oxfam India, DELL Art Gallery, Gurgaon
Group
2022 Imagined Documents curated by Ravi Agarwal (Serendipity Arts Festival), Rencontres d'Arles festival, Arles, France
2022 River pulses, Border Flows curated by Hanlu Zhang and Hongyu Chen, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
2022 New Natures: A Terrible Beauty is Born curated by Ravi Agarwal, Goethe-Institut Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai
2021 Close Contact curated by Dr. Thomas Niemeyer, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn, Germany
2021 Phantasmopolis 2021 Asian Art Biennale, curated by Nobuo Takamori and Ho Yu Kuan, Taiwan
2020-21 FRIN/GE curated by Shaleen Wadhwana, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2020 Imagined Homeland curated by Arianna Rinaldo, PhEST, Italy
2020 Speculations on a New World Order curated by Anushka Rajendran, Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi (online)
2019 Imagined Documents curated by Ravi Agarwal, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, India
2019 Imagined Homeland, OBSCURA Festival of Photography, Penang, Malaysia
2019 Imagined Homeland, Month Of Photography Los Angeles, USA
2019 Imagined Homeland curated by Louise Fedotov Clements, FORMAT, Derby, U.K.
2018 Imagined Homeland curated by Boris Eldagsen, Indian Photography Festival, Hyderabad
2018 Imagined Homeland, Tblisi Photo Festival (projection), Tbilisi, Georgia
2018 Imagined Homeland, Voies Off Awards, Rencontres d'Arles festival, France (projection)
2018 Imagined Homeland - ‘Eyes on India' by Eyes on Main Street Wilson, USA
2017 SCOPE: The Nepal Issue featuring Between Grief and Nothing curated by Rahaab Allana, Goethe-Institute, Mumbai
2016 Between Grief and Nothing curated by Angela Berlinde, Econtros Da Imagem, Portugal
2016 Between Grief and Nothing curated by Rahaab Allana, Photo Kathmandu, Nepal
2016 SCOPE: The Nepal Issue featuring Between Grief and Nothing curated by Rahaab Allana, Goethe-Institute, New Delhi
2012 I Get By, Diesel Art Gallery, Mumbai
2010 Crossing Currents,Ambika P3 Gallery,London
EDITORIAL PUBLICATIONS:
QUEST (Netherland), TERRA Mater, The Indian Quarterly, Mashable, Better Photography, Fountain Ink, The Caravan, Marie Claire India, Motherland, Outlook Traveller, The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Sunday Guardian, Scroll, Down To Earth, Discover India, Swagat, India Today Travel Plus, Jetwings, Hindustan Times, Amateur Photographer (UK), Islands (USA), Business Standard, Sahara Times, Khabar (USA), Trikone (USA), Dignity Dialogues
NGO CLIENTS:
WaterAid, Merck for Mothers, UNDP, Oxfam India, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), World Vision India, WWF-UK, WWF-India, CARE India, Greenpeace, Rotary International, Save The Children Finland, Save The Children Bal Raksha Bharat, ABT Associates, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, Plan India, Room To Read, Sesame Workshop, Saferworld Communications, DanChurch Aid, Christian Aid, Leprosy Mission India Trust
Select Publications
2022 Guest Editorial ‘Climate Change and its Intersections with Photography: examining photography through a lens of planetary justice’, PhotoSouthAsia
2019 A Hundred Years of Solitude, Caravan Magazine
2019 Imagined Homeland, China Life Magazine
2019 Imagined Homeland, QUEST, Netherland
2019 Imagined Homeland, Vrij Netherland
2018 Imagined Homeland, Indian Quarterly
2015 A Man’s Best Friend, Fountain Ink
Press:
2021 Podcast interview, Art Dose
2020 Interview, STIR World
2020 Speculations on a New World Order, Art Fervour
2019 Il sogno di una foresta magica, Sharbendu De, Internazionale
2018 FORMAT, British Journal of Photography
2018 12 Must-see exhibitions at the Indian Photography Festival by Ellyn Kail, FeatureShoot
2018 Magical Photos from an Isolated Community in India by Ellyn Kail, FeatureShoot
2017 Creative Treatments of Actuality- Can they be photojournalism?, Erik Vroons, Witness Magazine, World Press Photo
2017 Navigating Nepal, The Hindu
2016 Beyond Body Images, The Indian Express
2016 Shaky Ground by Dipanita Nath, The Indian Express
2014 An Expression of Expressions, The Hindu
2014 Poignant frames capture lives rent asunder by Baishali Adak, Deccan Herald
2014 Portraits of Pain and Resilience, Scroll
2014 On A Broken Land, The Indian Express
Select Artist Talks & Lectures:
2021 Artist talk- Osmosis, Indian Photography Festival
2021 Artist talk- Visual Storytelling & Cultural Representation, Social & Political Research Foundation, New Delhi
2020 Conceptual photography (two-month online lecture series), Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Delhi
2019 Three-day lecture on Contemporary Indian Photography, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
2019 Artist Talk- Imagined Homeland, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
2019 Artist Talk- Imagined Homeland, OBSCURA Festival of Photography, Penang, Malaysia
2018 Artist Talk –– ‘Fourth Pillar: India Journalism Week’, University of Chicago Centre, New Delhi
2018 Artist Talk-Imagined Homeland, Lamakaan, Hyderabad, India
2018 Masterclass ‘Photography, Myth & Magic,’ Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
2018 Artist talk— Imagined Homeland, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Delhi
2017 Masterclass 'Exploring Alternative Storytelling,’ Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, N. Delhi
2017 Lecture — ‘Ways of Seeing,’ History and Genres of Indian Photography Course by Sanskriti Pratishthan and The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi
2017 Lecture — ‘State of Photojournalism’, Journalism Workshop for African Journalists at AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
2016 Artist talk — Between Grief and Nothing, Geothe Institut, New Delhi
2016 'Brief History Of Looking & Photojournalism' at Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, Delhi University, New Delhi
2015 Speaker— Photography in Humanitarian Emergencies, World Vision India South Asia level Communications Workshop, New Delhi
2014 Two-day lecture on Documentary Photography & Human Rights, IIT Bombay
Academic Engagements:
Photobook Making & Editing:
Co-conducted six-day 'Editing and Photobook Making' workshop with Sanjeev Saith for MA Convergent Journalism, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, 24-29 Nov' 2017
Conducted five-day workshop on ‘Visual Storytelling and Photobook Making’ for MA Development Communication, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, May' 2017
Co-conducted five-day ‘Editing & Story telling’ workshop with Erik Vroons (Editor-at-Large, GUP Magazine), AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; November’ 2016
Conducted five-day workshop on ‘Visual Storytelling and Photobook Making’ for MA Convergent Journalism, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, November' 2015
Conducted five-day workshop on ‘Visual Storytelling and Photobook Making’ for MA Convergent Journalism, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, November' 2014
Teaching:
2016-present: Core faculty (Photography & Visual Communication), Sri Aurobindo Centre for Art & Communication, New Delhi
2020-21: Visiting Faculty, Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi
2017-present: Visiting Faculty, Delhi University
2012-2019: Visiting Professor (Photojournalism), Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi
Portfolio reviewer/Critique:
Critique-on-invite to the 2017 Graduation Show of Documentary Photography students, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Art & Communication, New Delhi, December' 2017
External Evaluator to PG Diploma in Still Photography Programme, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, 2016
Portfolio Reviewer, Delhi Photo Festival, Nov’ 2015