Swati Khurana is a writer and contemporary artist of Indian-American origin. She was born in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

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 ...

in 1975. She emigrated to New York in 1977, where she lives and works. She graduated from

Poughkeepsie Day School Poughkeepsie Day School is an independent, progressive, coeducational school in the mid-Hudson Valley serving students from a broad region of New York and Connecticut from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. History Founded in 1934, it was init ...

in 1993. She holds a B.A. in history from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, M.A. in Studio Art and Art Criticism from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, and an MFA in creative writing at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

Writing

Her fiction and essays have been published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

'', ''Chicago Quarterly Review'', ''

Asian American Literary Review ''The Asian American Literary Review'' (''AALR'') is a biannual literary magazine and according to its official website is "a space for writers who consider the designation 'Asian American' a fruitful starting point for artistic vision and commun ...

'', ''The Offing'', ''

The Rumpus ''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine founded by Stephen Elliott (author), Stephen Elliott, and launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as origi ...

'', ''

The Massachusetts Review ''The Massachusetts Review'' is a literary quarterly founded in 1959 by a group of professors from Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It receives financial support from Five Colle ...

'', the ''Good Girls Marry Doctors'' anthology, and cited as a Notable Essay in '' Best American Essays 2019''. She has received support from

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

Vermont Studio Center The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit arts organization located in the town of Johnson, Vermont. It conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the United States, with a significant population of international artis ...

, and

Center for Fiction The Center for Fiction, originally called the New York Mercantile Library, is a not-for-profit organization in New York City, with offices at 15 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Prior to their move in early 2018, The Center for Fiction ...

for her creative writing.

Visual Art

Khurana works in embroidery, collage, drawing, and installation, exploring gender and rituals that are particular to Indian immigrant culture. Her videos have been described "delightful, wry" in ''

'' and "dreamy" in ''Time Out New York.'' In the "Texting Scrolls" project, Khurana transcribes viewers' text messages into handmade scrolls. "Texting Scrolls" has been part of the Art in Odd Places festival, Kriti Festival at

University of Illinois-Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

, "A Bomb, With Ribbon Around It" exhibition at the

Queens Museum The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Established in 1972, the museum includes the '' Panorama of the City of New ...

, DUMBO Arts Festival, and

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

. For Parijat Desai Dance Company, Khurana co-designed projections for 'Songs to Live For' with Neeraj Churi, staged at

Tribeca Performing Arts Center The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) is a public community college in New York City. Founded in 1963 as part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, BMCC grants associate degrees in a wide variety of vocational, business, ...

, where "eternally calm and august figures—exalted

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

royalty—watch in painted silence as the dancers bring to life scenes of the age-old story of love and devotion." In the essay "Seducing Structures and Stitches: Reappropriating Love, Desire and the Image," Uzma Rizvi wrote that "the stitched canvases of the 'Bridal Trousseau' series are both retro-feminist and very contemporary. Needlework, in itself, is a heavy referent within a postcolonial feminist context. These canvases are literally stitched images of the self."

Exhibitions

Khurana has exhibited at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, Exit Art, Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Warsaw), and with the South Asian Women's Creative Collective. About her solo exhibition at Chatterjee & Lal in Mumbai, she was "touted as one of the most promising young Indian artists in the international contemporary art scene."

References

External links

Artist Website

''Love Letters & Necessary Fictions''
Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai 2010.

Diaspora Vibe Gallery, Miami, 2007.

A/P/A Gallery, New York University, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Khurana, Swati 1975 births Indian women contemporary artists Living people Women artists from Delhi Artists from New York City American artists of Indian descent American feminist artists Columbia College (New York) alumni New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study alumni American contemporary artists Indian installation artists 21st-century American women