Bio
Pallavi is a multidisciplinary artist, and her research interest concerns Asian American women's cultural production and activism. She is a board member of the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) and founder and director of ‘Inner Eye Arts,’ a nonprofit arts organization working for the visibility of Asian American Artists in the SF Bay area.
Her work has been exhibited in the US and abroad, including at the Queens Museum of the Arts, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and Aicon Gallery in New York, the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, and the Taubman Museum of Art in Virginia, among others. Her works explore the theme of marginalization, patriarchy, misogyny, and examines the notions of memory.
Pallavi received her BFA and MFA (Art History) from the Faculty of Fine Arts Baroda, and Ph.D. from the National Museum Institute of History of Art, Museology, and Conservation, New Delhi, India. She presently lives and works in San Ramon, CA.
Artist Statement
In my performances and installations, by multiple aids, I try to create channels to invoke a ‘sense of freedom and understanding’ of the world I live in. They are not mirror images of my life, but interpretations of it and its circumstances. In doing so, I feel independent, powerful, and more than anything else, I feel at home.
My body of work explores how my experience of swaying between cultures has altered the meaning of “home” for me. It speaks through my baggage of experience and pulls out the questions related to cultural identity. It draws from familiar images of war, fused with everyday struggles in a so-called ‘combat free zone.’ Through encrypted images, the work delves into the integral relations between home, security and a sense of belongingness.
I do believe we all leave our mother’s womb, the prime and safe, secure home, and immigrate to this world for a reason. The transition speaks about how throughout our lives we keep looking for validation—a stamped passport to be legal citizens of this world. In order to become homogeneous, we live life on predetermined terms and conditions, bypassing the sole reason of immigration! Ironic as it sounds, in chaotic situations, someone from inside our own bodies taps to remind us—“we came here with nothing and will be going empty handed, so why not to live with freedom and joy.”
In my performances and installations, by multiple aids, I try to create channels to invoke a ‘sense of freedom and understanding’ of the world I live in. They are not mirror images of my life, but interpretations of it and its circumstances. In doing so, I feel independent, powerful, and more than anything else, I feel at home.
My body of work explores how my experience of swaying between cultures has altered the meaning of “home” for me. It speaks through my baggage of experience and pulls out the questions related to cultural identity. It draws from familiar images of war, fused with everyday struggles in a so-called ‘combat free zone.’ Through encrypted images, the work delves into the integral relations between home, security and a sense of belongingness.
I do believe we all leave our mother’s womb, the prime and safe, secure home, and immigrate to this world for a reason. The transition speaks about how throughout our lives we keep looking for validation—a stamped passport to be legal citizens of this world. In order to become homogeneous, we live life on predetermined terms and conditions, bypassing the sole reason of immigration! Ironic as it sounds, in chaotic situations, someone from inside our own bodies taps to remind us—“we came here with nothing and will be going empty handed, so why not to live with freedom and joy.”
