EMERGING ARTIST AWARD 2008 | SHUMONA GOEL

Shumona Goel is a Bombay based artist working in film,  video and photography. After finishing her BA in Film from Bard College, New  York, Shumona did her MA in Anthropology from School of Oriental and African  Studies, London. She has directed and produced several documentaries, short films   and commercials since.

Her works have a strong connection to her personal experiences and situations, and addresses the issues of migration, identity and the dislocation faced by the Indian Diaspora. “My films are essentially personal statements or artistic expressions” explains Goel, with reference to her films which contain elements of narrative, documentary and experimental-collage.

The recipients of the Emerging Artist Award 2008 were  chosen by an independent jury consisting artists Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta and  Shilpa Gupta, and art historians/critics Annapurna Garimella and Anshuman  Dasgupta. Based on the presented portfolio of works the artists were selected  after two rounds of short-listing from over 350 applicants from all over India. The jury’s criteria for selection was to find the two  artists whose language is both personal and deals with larger questions pertaining to the field of visual art, whose work displays their strong   engagement with their medium/concept and, and whose body of works shows a  consistency in quality. They explained that Sandip Pisalkar stood out for his  highly-experimental and fresh approach towards the medium of sculpture, and  Shumona Goel was recognized for her unique handling of the video was a medium  in today’s context of visual arts.