Pritika Chowdhry is an Indian-born American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

, and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

. She is known for her work in the socio-political domain. Pritika is the founder of Partition Anti-Memorial Project and Counter-Memory Project.

Biography

Born in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Pritika grew up in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. In 1999, she moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Pritika attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Art. She continued her study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and earned a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

(MFA) in

Studio Arts A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(MA) in Visual Culture and

Gender Studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

. Between 2009 and 2011, she was a visiting professor and taught at

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

and College of Visual Arts. In 2007, she founded the Partition Anti-Memorial Project. The project consists of nine sub-projects focusing on historical events, including the 1947 Partition of India, 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence, and the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. Her work has been exhibited at notable museums and arts galleries such as

Queens Museum The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its pe ...

Weisman Art Museum The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum is an art museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1934 as University Gallery, the museum was originally housed in an upper floor of the university's Northrop Auditorium. In 19 ...

Hunterdon Art Museum The Hunterdon Art Museum, previously known as the Hunterdon Art Center and the Hunterdon Museum of Art, is located in a historic stone mill at 7 Lower Center Street in Clinton, New Jersey. It was founded in 1952 when it purchased Dunham's Mill, t ...

Minnesota Museum of American Art The Minnesota Museum of American Art ("The M") is an American art museum located in the Pioneer and Endicott Buildings, Historic Pioneer Endicott building in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The museum holds more than 5,000 artworks that showcase the unique ...

Sanskriti Museum & Art Gallery Sanskriti Museum & Art Gallery, Hazaribagh was founded by Bulu Imam in 1991, after he discovered the first rockart of Hazaribagh district at Isco, subsequently bringing to light over dozen meso-chalcolithic rockarts, including the prehistoric ar ...

, and Islip Art Museum. Pritika is the current senior curator at the South Asia Institute and is a member of the board of the

Woman Made Gallery The Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is a Chicago based non-profit gallery known for elevating women and non-binary artists through exhibitions, membership, and community dialogue programs. Woman Made's vision is to ensure the equal placement of women's ar ...

, Chicago.

Awards and recognition

* 2007: David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship * 2011: Performing and creative arts fellowship by American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship

Selected exhibitions

* ''Local Time'',

, 2015 * ''Empty Time'',

, 2014 * ''Remembering the Crooked Line'', Rohtas 2 Art Gallery, 2012 * ''Story Time'', Islip Art Museum, 2010 * ''Retellings'', Seven Art Gallery, 2010 * ''Erasing Borders'',

Queens Museum of Art The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its p ...

, 2009 * ''The Master's Tongues'',

, 2009

Permanent collections

American Swedish Institute The American Swedish Institute (ASI) is a museum and cultural center in the Phillips West neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The organization is dedicated to the preservation and study of the historic role Sweden and Swedish A ...

Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) ( uk, Український Інститут Модерного Мистецтва (Ukrayinskyi Instytut Modernoho Mystetstva)) is a modern art museum serving the Chicago area with an ongoing program o ...

Bibliography

* Chowdhry, Pritika (2007). ''Visceral Mappings: Transdiasporic Art Practices''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhary, Pritika Living people American artists American women curators American curators Macalester College faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Year of birth missing (living people)