A trained painter and print maker, Rohini Devasher is an accomplished Indian contemporary artist. Other than being artistic, Rohini is also involved in a variety of media work including sound, video, prints and large site specific drawings.
Early Life of Rohini Devasher
Born on 1978 in New Delhi, Rohini Devasher received her MA in printmaking from the Winchester School of Art in the UK and her BFA in Painting from the College of Art in New Delhi.
Career of Rohini Devasher
Prior to her MA in UK, Rohini worked at the India Habitat Centre and returned to work at the Khoj International Artists" Association between 2005 and 2010. Her first solo project called "Breed" was almost a decade back in 2009 in Mumbai. The exhibition consisted of digital prints, drawings and videos. Devasher`s works explored the possibilities contained within nature, where organisms are born, breed and multiply. This was followed by her second solo called "Permutation" at Nature Morte, New Delhi in 2011. Her other exhibitions include "Deep Time", which was about looking at the notion of deep time through a museum"s collection of fossils and corals. This opened at Khoj International Artists" Association and Project 88 in Mumbai.
In 2012, Rohini participated in the inaugural Kochi Muziris Biennale curated by Krishnamachari Bose and Riyas Komu. It was here, her 7 channel video work was installed. Rohini has crafted images of the metamorphosis of dragonflies, and of trees illuminated against a pitch black background. In her large scale, mixed media works on paper, she presents microbes or chrysalises in intricate, delicate detail. Some of her current work involves research and fieldwork in astronomy. She once even chose to create fictive landscapes up north in Ladakh, at the site of the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in Hanle, one of the world"s highest sites for optical, infrared and gamma ray telescopes, that draws astronomers as much for the severe terrain as for the dramatic skies.
Some of her more recent projects include "Speculations from the Field" which was a part of the 2016 "Archaeologies of the Future" exhibition. The show explored existentialist themes by looking at the place of humans in the universe, and the idea of time interacting with the museum"s collection of fossils from the Jurassic Period. Other than this, there was the 2017 exhibition called the "Clouds and Forests" held in the 7th Moscow Biennale.
Awards of Rohini Devasher
Known to be the 2014 Forbes Contemporary Artist of the Year, Rohini Devasher was also the recipient of the Inlaks Fine Arts Award twice in the years 2007 and 2008. In 2012, she was previously nominated and later announced as the winner of Art India Skoda Breakthrough Artist award.
