In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1946
- Birthplace
- Karachi
- Country
- India
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- An Indian artist whose layered projections and painted shadows give historical and literary voices a moving form.
Why this life matters
An Indian artist whose layered projections and painted shadows give historical and literary voices a moving form.
Timeline
Key moments
Education and an experimental beginning
Nalini Malani was born in Karachi in 1946 and graduated from SirJ.J.School of Art in Mumbai in 1969. Her practice began with experimental film and photography and developed into installations, theatre, wall drawings and moving images. Womenโs voices from literature, myth and history became recurring resources. These references connect the work to experiences marginalised within larger public narratives. The changing media gave her several ways to bring a voice into relation with images and with the space occupied by an audience.
Sources for this section: [1]
The shadow play as a constructed environment
From 2001 she developed the form she calls video shadow play. In Search of Vanished Blood II, dated 2012/2017, combines five rotating painted cylinders with six video projections and sound. The work draws on several literary sources rather than adapting one text in a straightforward sequence. Painted forms and moving projections meet on surrounding surfaces, creating changing relations among figures and voices. The installation makes the act of seeing layered and unstable, connecting its technical construction with questions about violence, gender and the representation of experience.
Sources for this section: [2]
An older collection becomes a new commission
Malani became the first National Gallery Contemporary Fellowship artist, developing My Reality is Different for presentations in Bath and London in 2022โ2023. The commission responded to the collections of the Holburne Museum and the National Gallery through a new animation environment. It extended her long practice of revisiting inherited images from a critical contemporary position. Her contribution is both formal and interpretive, using changing combinations of image, shadow and sound to let familiar narratives be heard and seen through other voices.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Nalini Malani
- What is Nalini Malani known for?
- An Indian artist whose layered projections and painted shadows give historical and literary voices a moving form.
Keep exploring
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Sources and further reading
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