Recreating forgotten stories

ISSUE: 133

Janhavi Sharma works with photographs and moving images to focus on the connections between women, nature, food, and ecofeminism

When did your connection with art begin? 

JS: My family preferred to invest in books and colors, instead of TV or video games. In fact, I didn’t have a TV at home until I was in the tenth grade – by choice. So the formative years were all about books from everywhere, as the only form of entertainment. I think access to books is a thing of great privilege. I used to be buried in storybooks. I have a collection of children’s books, not just the western classics but handpicked stories that resonate with the South Asian identity. I distinctly remember this Japanese storybook about a little girl who befriended crickets, grasshoppers and other insects, and I recall my subsequent feeble attempts at watercoloring!

How, according to you, has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your domain? 

JS: It restricted and limited art making and showcasing your work, definitely. More than the logistics, personally, this pandemic just made impermanence, loss, and grief seem like something that’s just waiting around the corner for it to happen to you. I was in the UK this past year, and it wasn’t easy trying to make work when the situation back home was getting more grave and scary. Such bleak times! 

What are you currently pursuing?

JS: I’m super excited about a collaboration with an artist from Colombia, who I met online while doing a workshop on Ecological and Post Colonial Feminism, themed around fossils and archeology. I’ve started making a draft photobook, and intend to finish that by December. I want to work with augmented reality and holograms eventually, so I’m teaching myself a little bit about that. I’m also experimenting with alternate photography techniques that will help me make my practice more organic and sustainable.

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