About
Pouring Red installation detail 2019
Artist’s Bio
A multidisciplinary artist, Indrani Nayar-Gall weaves global narratives of marginalization, patriarchy, and misogyny through her practice in installation, 2-D/3-D media and moving image. Social justice themes stem from influences in her mixed north-south Indian background, parental modeling of community engagement and helping marginalized women, the mentorship of socially engaged professors, and socio-political activism.
In a career that spans over thirty-five years, including teaching, she continually expands her practice, most recently directing two documentaries. The work was supported by donor fundraising, an artist’s fellowship to support experimental filmmaking. Her award winning first feature, String of Stories is on view on Amazon Prime U.S. and UK, and a new body of work was recently shown at Woman Made Gallery.
Indrani Nayar-Gall has an MFA in experimental printmaking, a graduate certificate in contemporary non-toxic printmaking, and a diploma in education. She continues expanding her knowledge in moving image and new media.
Artist’s Statement
My artistic practice springs from being surrounded by women-made cultural/ritual mark-making in my native India, more so from Bengali social-cultural practice. Exposure to European art has given me different tools and language, but also an urgency to de-colonize my imagination.
Migrating to the US, the pressure to conform, pushed me further into being nonconformist—deconstructing that single perspective. My present works are about women’s bodies as sites of violence, dreams and aspirations. Using or combining paper, fiber, ready-mades, words/text from scriptures derogatory to women, I stretch the limits of the conventional processes to create bodies that physically hang, stretch over the floor or wall, or create non-linear digital moving image narratives. Guiding myself intuitively, I imagine solutions or interpret concepts, make my own tools, choose appropriate material, alter or disassociate the real/obvious to create visceral, tactile or surreal experiences. My processes are individual but also collaborative and participatory.