Shrine Empire Gallery

Bio CV Exhibitions

The Museum of my Mind
The Museum of my Mind
Monsoon Drawings – Precarious / Permanence

Education:

1996 Bachelor of Arts (Economics), St. Xavier’s College, University of Bombay, India.

1997 Post Graduate Diploma in World Politics, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK

1998 Master of Science- Analysis, Design & Management of Information Systems, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK

2006 South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC), New York, NY, Board Member

Co-curated and Produced the SAWCC’s Annual art exhibition ‘In a State of Emergency: Women, War & the Politics of Urban, Survival, Alwan Art Centre (catalogue published)

Solo Exhibitions:

2015

The Journey of Secrets, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai, India

The Crucible of Fantasy, Art Basel Hong Kong 2015, presented by Shrine Empire

2014

Cabinet of Curiosities, Shrine Empire, New Delhi. India

Group Exhibitions:

2024

Delhi Contemporary Art Week, Bikaner House, New Delhi

Legacies of Crossing, curated by Zahra Khan, Shahnaz Gallery, London

Art Dubai, Shrine Empire, Dubai, UAE

2023

Art Mumbai, Shrine Empire, Maharashtra, India

India Art Fair, Shrine Empire, New Delhi, India

Delhi Contemporary Art Week, New Delhi, India

‘Seeds, Trees and Montain,’ AGA Khan Centre, London, UK

‘Search for the Empyrean’, Visual Arts Center, New Jersey, USA

2022

India Art Fair, Shrine Empire, New Delhi, India

Delhi Contemporary Art Week, New Delhi, India

‘Order/Reorder’, curated by Laura Vookles & Bentley Brown, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

‘Pilgrim, Saint, Scholar, Sinner’, a compendium of works, Shrine Empire (Jan 2021 – April 2022)

2021

Museo Camera Inaugural exhibition curated by Rahul Kumar, Gurgaon, India

‘Growth’, curated by Katerina Lafranco, New York, NY

‘The Dawn of Aquarius’ curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala, New York, NY

Delhi Contemporary Art Week, Shrine Empire, New Delhi, India

Artissima Art Fair, ‘Hub India: Maximum Minimum’, Turin, Italy

MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale, ‘Residues & Resonances, Turin, Italy

The Show Windows, Raw Mango, Mumbai, SQW: Lab 2021 fellowship

2020

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

Wave Hill Winter Workspace, New York

‘Speculations On A New World Order’ curated by Anushka Rajendran, Shrine Empire, New Delhi, India

‘Collab,’ curated by Jesal Thacker, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

‘Intersections’ / Shrine Empire, In Touch (online exhibition)

‘The wound is the place where the light enters you’; Shrine Empire, In Touch (online exhibition)

2019

Delhi Contemporary Art Week, New Delhi

‘Osmosis’, Group Show curated by Shaleen Wadhwana, Tarq Gallery, Mumbai

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

Gallery OED, Cochin, India

2018

‘Since Time Immemorial’, Gallery OED, Cochin, India

‘Contain Her’ curated by Katherine Murdock Trestle Projects, New York, USA

‘Reclaimed Baggage’ curated by Nirmal Raja, NIU Art Museum, DeKalb, Illinois

‘Lapses II’ curated by Anushka Rajendran, Sakshi Art Gallery

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

2017

Group Show, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai

India Art Fair, with Shrine Empire, New Delhi

2016

‘Reading Room’ curated by Amit Kumar Jain, Saffronart, New York

Art Dubai, with Sakshi Art Gallery, Dubai

India Art Fair with Shrine Empire, New Delhi

Group Show, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai

2015

Art Basel Hong Kong, Shrine Empire, Hong Kong

India Art Fair, Shrine Empire, New Delhi

‘A Journey of Secrets’, Solo exhibition with Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai

‘Reading Room’ curated by Amit Jain, partner exhibition at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi

Residencies:

2020

Wave Hill Winter Workspace Residency, New York, USA

Samanta Batra Mehta (b. 1975) is a self-taught artist who grew up in Bombay, India and lives in New York, USA. Samanta creates multi-layered artwork that is a commentary on the human condition and the environment we inhabit. Themes of identity, personal history, gender constructs, socio-political order and colonial history are depicted and debated in her layered artistic interventions that employ drawing, found objects, text, photo and installation. In a contemporary re-imagining of the ‘exquisite corpse’ genre, she oftentimes re-purposes collected antiquarian objects, imagery and texts along with her own drawings to render an altered visual engagement to reimagine history. In Samanta’s visual vocabulary, the human form and anatomical imagery is intertwined with foliage and nature. Nature/land/landscape is seen as a metaphor for the body (and vice-versa) and as a site for germination, nourishment, degradation, trespass, plunder, colonization and transgression. Her influences include history, myth, the natural world, medieval illustration, religious iconography and mystical philosophies. As an Indian artist living in New York for more than a decade, Samanta’s work oftentimes speaks of dislocation and migration. Her work examines what it means to be rooted in a constant state of flux.

Her first solo, ’Cabinet of Curiosities’, with Shrine Empire, New Delhi in 2014 was nominated for the Forbes India Art Award in the ‘Best Debut Solo’ category. Her second solo ‘The Journey of Secrets’, was at Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2015. Samanta’s work has been showcased by galleries at leading art fairs including at Art Stage, Singapore (2010), India Art Fair, New Delhi (2011-2016), Bologna Arte Fiere (2013), Art Basel Hong Kong (2014, 2015) and Art Dubai (2016, 2024). Some of her selected exhibitions include ‘Seeds, Trees and Montain’ AGA Khan Centre, London, UK (2023); ‘Search for the Empyrean’, Visual Arts Center NJ, USA (2023); ‘Residues & Resonances’, MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin, Italy (2022); ‘Order/Reorder’, curated by Laura Vookles & Bentley Brown, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York (2022); ‘Hub India: Maximum Minimum’, Artissima Art Fair, Turin, Italy (2021); ‘Reclaimed Baggage’ curated by Nirmal Raja, NIU Art Museum, DeKalb, Illinois, USA (2018), ‘Contain Her’ curated by Katherine Murdock, Trestle Projects, New York, NY (2018); ‘Reading Room’ curated by Amit Jain, partner exhibition at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi (2015); ‘The Tenth Parallel North: Contemporary Photography of India & South America,’ curated by Filippo Maggia, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, Modena, Italy (2012). In 2010 she was invited by Galerie LMD, Paris to exhibit her work and make a 24-foot-long site-specific mural at the Salon Du Dessin Contemporain, held at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. Her works were specially curated for The Show Windows, Raw Mango, Mumbai, SQW: Lab 2021 fellowship.

She participated at Wave Hill’s 2020 Winter Workspace Residency in New York.