Gunjan Kumar is an artist, independent scholar and educator based in Chicago originally from Punjab, India. She has spent many years traveling through India and other countries in South Asia, observing age-old practices in textiles and indigenous arts and crafts, visiting archeological sites, observing prehistoric paintings and other tribal arts. All these experiences form the undertone of her art practice. Her works have been exhibited at the South Asia Institute, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, the Donnelley Foundation, Chicago Artist Coalition, Chicago Sculpture International Biennial, Chicago, National College of Arts, Lahore, American Embassy, Gallery Exhibit320, India Art Fair, New Delhi, among others. She is a resident artist at the Chicago Art Department, Chicago and has been a resident fellow at the Edward Albee Foundation, Montauk, NY in the past (2016-2017). Kumar is currently working on a project with an American Pakistani artist that presents their responses to exploration of archaeological sites and artifacts in the Sindhu (Indus) watershed, a geographical region extending across northwest India and much of Pakistan. This project premiered as a two-person show at the South Asia Institute, Chicago (June 2021) and was thereafter exhibited at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan (November 2021) and Gallery Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India (April 2022). To know more about the project, please visit this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cpDHqQNpPA&t=3s

Kumar has lectured as Guest Faculty on Process, Material and History of Natural Pigments with focus on prehistoric cave art from around the world, also shedding light on derivative processes and media in related schools of art in Asia. As an independent educator, she has worked with art and design institutions such as Harper College, Palatine, IL, Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St.Louise, Design Museum of Chicago, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago Artist Coalition, Chicago, among others. Kumar received her bachelor’s in economics (honors) from Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College for Women, Chandigarh and is a postgraduate in Textiles from National Institute of Design and Technology, New Delhi.

Image: Gunjan Kumar, What Remains, (2021). Clay on Handwoven Raw Cotton. 48 x 36 inches