Divya Mehra (born 1981) is a Canadian artist from

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. Mehra was awarded the 2019 Wanda Koop Research Fund. She received the

Sobey Art Award The Sobey Art Award is Canada's largest prize for young Canadian artists. It is named after Canadian businessperson and art collector Frank H. Sobey, who established The Sobey Art Foundation. It is an annual prize given to an artist 40 and under w ...

, presented annually by the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

, in 2022.

Early life and education

Mehra was born Winnipeg, Canada, the second youngest of four children. She received her BFA (Honours) in

Visual Arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

School of Art in Winnipeg in 2005 and her MFA in Visual Arts from

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2008.

Work

Mehra works in a multitude of forms, including sculpture, print, drawing, artist books, installation, advertising, performance, video and film. She often uses humour as an entry to her work. By pairing research and popular culture — including comics and social media — with her experience as an artist within the

Indian diaspora Overseas Indians (ISO 15919, ISO: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are people of Indian descent who reside or originate outside of India (Including those that were directly under the British Raj). Acc ...

, she creates works meant to be provocative yet humorous.

Selected projects

Mehra is known in part for her text-based works. One of her first of such works, ''Currently Fashionable'', was created in 2009 and shown as a part of her exhibition, ''You have to tell them, I'm not a Racist'' first presented in 2012 at La Maison des artistes visuels francophones, in St. Boniface, Manitoba, and again in 2017 at Georgia Scherman Projects in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The text works appear in English,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and French. In 2012 Mehra was one of ten artists commissioned by

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, MoMA PS1, and Creative Time to reimagine ''Art Breaks'' — a video series on MTV in the 1980s that first showcased video work by

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the Graffiti in New York City, New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual l ...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

and

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

. Art Breaks 2012 featured videos by Sema Bekirovic, Cody Critcheloe, Andrew Kuo, Mads Lynnerup, Tala Madani, Mehra, Rashaad Newsome, Jani Ruscica,

Mickalene Thomas Mickalene Thomas (born January 28, 1971) is a contemporary African-American visual artist best known as a painter of complex works using rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel.

, and Guido van der Werve. In 2018, Mehra was commissioned to create the Spring 2018 ''Canadian Art Magazine'' cover for the Dirty Words issue. For the cover image she recreated the set of the popular Canadian sketch comedy show, ''

You Can't Do That On Television ''You Can't Do That on Television'' is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured adolescent and teenage actors performing in a sketch comedy format similar to A ...

'', and reimagined one of the infamous recurring moments when a character on set is being drenched with slime whenever they say ''I don't know''. That same issue also features an artist folio by her — entitled Tone — that explores the complexity of South Asian diasporic experiences. Mehra was the subject of a 2018 episode of the

CBC Arts CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

docuseries, ''In The Making''. The series, hosted by Sean O’Neill, follows leading Canadian artists around the world as they bring their work to life. In the series finale, Mehra travels to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to begin work on a new inflatable work — a

bouncy castle Bounce or The Bounce may refer to: * Deflection (physics), the event where an object collides with and bounces against a plane surface Books * Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books Broadcasting, film and TV * '' ...

Taj Mahal — that was then exhibited for the first time as a special project for ''Vision Exchange: Perspectives From India to Canada'', which began its cross-Canada tour in September 2018. The National Gallery of Canada acquired the work. In 2023, Mehra was commissioned to create two new inflatable works for Nuit Blanche Toronto.

Selected exhibitions

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta, Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the Performing arts, performing and fine arts, as well as leadership trai ...

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in a building designed by architect Peter Cardew which opened in 1995 ...

at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

*Artspeak

Selected awards

* Manitoba Arts Council, Major Arts Grant, 2014 * Glenfiddich Art Award, shortlist, 2015 *

, shortlist, Prairies and the North region, 2017 *

Wanda Koop Wanda Koop is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As well as being an artist, she is a community activist and founded Art City, a free community art centre for inner city youth in Winnipeg (1998). Life ...

Research Fund, 2020 *Sobey Art Award, winner, 2022.

Publications

* Mehra. '"Tone". '' Canadian Art Magazine,'' 2018. * Mehra. ''Pouring Water on a Drowning Man.'' Winnipeg: As We Try and Sleep Press, 2014. * Mehra. ''Quit, India.'' Vancouver: Artspeak & Winnipeg: Platform Gallery, 2013.

Selected Reviews & Interviews

* Jen Zoratti. “Artist tackles colonialism with wit, Inflatable installation acquired by National Gallery of Canada,” ''Winnipeg Free Press'', August 31, 2019. * Yaniya Lee. "Tactics and Strategies of Racialized Artists: Some Notes on How to Circumvent the Art World’s Terms of Inclusion," ''ArtsEverywhere/Musagetes'', November 29, 2018. * Marissa Largo. “Jamelie Hassan and Divya Mehra: Cultural Currency and Canada 150,” ''Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas'', Issue 4, March 4, 2018. * Mark Mann. “White Like Me: Encountering Divya Mehra’s ''You have to tell Them, i’m not a Racist.'',” ''Momus'', October 21, 2017. * Amy Fung. “Dearest Divya,” in conjunction with the exhibition ''You have to tell Them, i’m not a Racist.'', Georgia Scherman Projects, Toronto, 2017. * Kendra Place. “Abolish, She Said,” in conjunction with the exhibition ''You have to tell Them, i’m not a Racist.'', Georgia Scherman Projects, Toronto, 2017. * Angela Henderson & Solomon Nagler. “Review: It’s Gonna Rain,” ''Border Crossings Magazine,'' Issue 141, March 2017. * Denise Markonish. “Oh, Canada: Contemporary Art from North North America,” in conjunction with the exhibition, ''Oh, Canada'', at MASS MoCA, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.

References

External links

Official website

Divya Mehra on Vimeo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehra, Divya Living people 20th-century Canadian artists Canadian contemporary artists Canadian people of Indian descent Columbia University School of the Arts alumni 1981 births 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists