Ms. Chinar Shah
Adjunct Faculty at School of Design Studies,
Honorary Associate Research Fellow at the Royal Holloway
University, UK (2020 - 2022),
MA in Literature from English and Foreign Languages
University,
PGDP in Photography Design from
National Institute of Design
Chinar Shah is an artist based in Bangalore. She is interested in documentary practices and uses her screen as a site of navigation. She is the founder of Home Sweet Home Studio, a research and publication platform to investigate self-organized, artist-led, and curatorial projects in India. The platform focuses on the modes and materialities of cultural productions through which counter-institutional narratives emerge, ones that do not rely on familiar modes of transactions and values prescribed by hegemonic discourses of art and art history. She has received grants from the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, Pronto - Göteborg Stad Kultur of the city of Gothenburg, AHRC, UK, ASAP: Art South Asia Project and Experimenter, Calcutta. She has presented her work at Tate Modern, Serendipity Arts Festival, and Kochi Biennale Collateral amongst others. She has co-edited Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice (Bloomsbury, UK, 2018). She taught photography and visual arts at the Srishti Institute for Art, Design, and Technology (Bangalore, India) and is the co-editor of Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice (Bloomsbury, UK, 2018).
Professional Education
| 2011-2013 | PGDPD (Post Graduation Diploma Program) in Photography Design from NID (National Institute of Design), MFA in Photography, awarded by UCA, UK in collaboration with NID as dual degree. |
| 2008-2010 | M.A. in Literature, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. |
| 2005-2008 | B.A. in English Literature with Communicative English, St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. |
Teaching Courses
- Introduction to Narrative and Storytelling
- Design History
- Fundamentals of Design
- Integrative Studio: Exhibitions and Museums
Research Interests
- Art History
- Photography
- Art Pedagogy
Selected Publications
- Jan 2018 - Co-editor of an academic publication, Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice, Bloomsbury, UK.
- Jan 2018 - Silenced Ruptures: Images from 2002 Gujarat Riots In Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice, ed by Aileen Blaney and Chinar Shah, Bloomsbury, UK.
- 2018 - The Execution of Osama Bin Laden in Images, Membrana, Slovenia.
- 2018 - Blaney Aileen and Chinar Shah, The Aesthetics of Contemporary Indian Photography in an “Incredible India”, In Journal of Photography and Culture, UK.
- 2019 - A Memorial for the New Economy, Reliable Copy, India. (An artist book)
- 2019 - Reimaging Flowers in Photography, Ed. By Alka Pande in Third Eye: Photography and Ways of Seeing, Speaking Tiger, 2019.
- 2022 - Shah Chinar and Aileen Blaney, Circulation of photography in the popular digital realm: cell phones and social media, Ed by Gayatri Sinha, KNMA, Delhi.
- 2022 - A Visual Journey: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, Photo South Asia
- 2024 - upcoming #newcar, Framing Portraits, Binding Albums: Family Photographs in India, Ed by Suryanandini Narain & Shilpi Goswami, Zubaan Books Publication, New Delhi.
Research Projects Undertaken
- Currently working on artist-led, independent initiatives in the arts in India.
Ms. Chinar Shah
Adjunct Faculty at School of Design Studies,
Honorary Associate Research Fellow at the Royal Holloway
University, UK (2020 - 2022),
M.A. in Literature from English and Foreign Languages
University,
PGDP in Photography Design from
National Institute of Design
Chinar Shah is an artist based in Bangalore. She is interested in documentary practices and uses her screen as a site of navigation. She is the founder of Home Sweet Home Studio, a research and publication platform to investigate self-organized, artist-led, and curatorial projects in India. The platform focuses on the modes and materialities of cultural productions through which counter-institutional narratives emerge, ones that do not rely on familiar modes of transactions and values prescribed by hegemonic discourses of art and art history. She has received grants from the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, Pronto - Göteborg Stad Kultur of the city of Gothenburg, AHRC, UK, ASAP: Art South Asia Project and Experimenter, Calcutta. She has presented her work at Tate Modern, Serendipity Arts Festival, and Kochi Biennale Collateral amongst others. She has co-edited Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice (Bloomsbury, UK, 2018). She taught photography and visual arts at the Srishti Institute for Art, Design, and Technology (Bangalore, India) and is the co-editor of Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice (Bloomsbury, UK, 2018).
| 2011-2013 | PGDPD (Post Graduation Diploma Program) in Photography Design from NID (National Institute of Design), MFA in Photography, awarded by UCA, UK in collaboration with NID as dual degree. |
| 2008-2010 | M.A. in Literature, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. |
| 2005-2008 | B.A. in English Literature with Communicative English, St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. |
- Introduction to Narrative and Storytelling
- Design History
- Fundamentals of Design
- Integrative Studio: Exhibitions and Museums
- Art History
- Photography
- Art Pedagogy
- Jan 2018 - Co-editor of an academic publication, Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice, Bloomsbury, UK.
- Jan 2018 - Silenced Ruptures: Images from 2002 Gujarat Riots In Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice, ed by Aileen Blaney and Chinar Shah, Bloomsbury, UK.
- 2018 - The Execution of Osama Bin Laden in Images, Membrana, Slovenia.
- 2018 - Blaney Aileen and Chinar Shah, The Aesthetics of Contemporary Indian Photography in an “Incredible India”, In Journal of Photography and Culture, UK.
- 2019 - A Memorial for the New Economy, Reliable Copy, India. (An artist book)
- 2019 - Reimaging Flowers in Photography, Ed. By Alka Pande in Third Eye: Photography and Ways of Seeing, Speaking Tiger, 2019.
- 2022 - Shah Chinar and Aileen Blaney, Circulation of photography in the popular digital realm: cell phones and social media, Ed by Gayatri Sinha, KNMA, Delhi.
- 2022 - A Visual Journey: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, Photo South Asia
- 2024 - upcoming #newcar, Framing Portraits, Binding Albums: Family Photographs in India, Ed by Suryanandini Narain & Shilpi Goswami, Zubaan Books Publication, New Delhi.
- Currently working on artist-led, independent initiatives in the arts in India.
