Hema Upadhyay

Visual Artist

Indian Vadodara, Gujarat

Quick Info

ProfessionVisual Artist
NationalityIndian
Date of Birth18/05/1972
Age43 years (died on 11, Dec, 2015)
BirthplaceVadodara, Gujarat
Date of Death11/12/2015

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Bio/Wiki

Other NameHema Hirani

Physical Stats & More

Eye ColorBlack
Hair ColorBlack

Educational Qualification(s)

Degree
  • BFA
  • MFA
  • BFA in Painting
  • MFA in Print Making
  • BFA in Painting (1995)
  • MFA in Printmaking (1997)
SchoolConvent Of Jesus & Mary Girls High School, Vadodara
College/UniversityMaharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat

Personal Life

Food HabitNon-Vegetarian

Relationships & More

Marital StatusDivorced
Marriage Date31/10/1998
SpouseChintan Upadhyay

Family

MotherBina Hirani
Siblings2 Brothers: Manish Hirani, Deepak Prasad
SpouseChintan Upadhyay

Career

Awards
  • Year: 2001 Achievement: First Prize at the Tenth Triennale in India
  • Year: 2001 Achievement: Lalit Kala Academy for her work in the 10th International Triennale
  • Year: 1996 Achievement: National Scholarship and Gujarat State Award
Notable Works
  • The Nymph and the Adult
  • Made in China
  • Loco foco motto
  • Only Memory has Preservatives
  • Sweet Sweat Memories
  • Dream A Wish, Wish A Dream
  • Fish in a dead landscape
  • Loco foco
  • Visitors 1972–1998
  • Mum-my
Solo Exhibitions
  • Extra Ordinary at the Faculty of Fine Arts Baroda
  • Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi in 2012
  • Mute Migration at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia in 2012
  • Where the bees suck, there suck I at the MACRO museum in Rome, Italy in 2009
  • Sweet Sweat Memories at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai in 2001
  • The Nymph and the Adult at Artspace, Sydney and Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia in 2001
  • Fish in a Dead Landscape at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai in 2014
Artistic Collaborations
  • In 2003, created Made in China with Chintan Upadhyay, focusing on mass consumerism
  • Participated in Vasl residency in Karachi, creating works related to India-Pakistan partition
International Exhibitions
  • Indian Highway at the Serpentine Gallery, London (2008-09)
  • The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today at the Saatchi Gallery, London (2010)
  • Facing East at the Manchester Art Gallery (2010)
  • Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2008-09)
Residencies
  • Art Space, Sydney (2001)
  • Vasl Residency, Karachi (2003)
  • Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh (2007)
  • Singapore Tyler Print Institute (2008)
  • Atelier Calder, France (2010)
Mediums
  • Photography
  • Painting
  • Printmaking
  • Sculptural installations
  • Mixed media
  • Rice paintings

Some Lesser Known Facts

1. Hema hailed from a Marwadi-Gujarati family in Vadodara, Gujarat.
2. She met Chintan Upadhyay while studying at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
3. In 2001, she had her first solo exhibition abroad in Australia, sculpting around 2000 lifelike cockroaches.
4. In 2010, she created a significant installation using 750,000 unlit matchsticks.
5. She was involved in multiple international art exhibitions and residencies.
6. She moved to Mumbai in 1998 and was active as an artist from 1998 until her death in 2015.
7. Her work explored themes of migration, displacement, gender, urban fragility, and socioeconomic development in India's liberalized economy.
8. She created delicate rice paintings that used grains of rice as both medium and metaphor for fragile resistance.
Information on this page is collected from public sources and may not be 100% accurate. Report an error
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