Digital Commons Network^™

Udita Upadhyaya Interview, Aneri Madhu

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: Udita Upadhyaya is an interdisciplinary artist who uses the details of her medical, cultural, and social biography as her primary art material. Her work spans live art, devised theatre, performative photographs, sculpture, installation, video, writing, text, and fiber arts.

Upadhyaya delves into the privilege of being able to lose a language, to have a language to spare. She wonders which bodies have access to literacy? Which to expression? When? And Where? Upadhyaya writes in English, reconciling and reclaiming that her language of intellectual expression and subsequently of power is inherited from the colonizers of her ancestors. Simultaneously …

Dinesh Sabu Interview, Mitch Buangsuwon

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Dinesh Sabu made his first feature documentary Unbroken Glass with Kartemquin Film. It played at numerous film festivals and was broadcast on America ReFramed’s 5th Season in May 2017. Dinesh was awarded “Best Director” at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in 2017 for his debut feature. Before Unbroken Glass, Dinesh shot parts of American Arab and The Homestretch with Kartemquin filmmakers. He also shot and is co-producing the forthcoming How to Build a School in Haiti with director Jack C. Newell. He is currently attending Stanford University’s Documentary Film and Video MFA program.

Renluka Maharaj Interview, Steven Zych

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Renluka Maharaj grew up in the country of Trinidad and Tobago and moved to New York as a child where spent most of her life. Her Eastern and Western background wrapped with modern sensibilities is evident in her bodies of work. Her interests are centered on gender roles, sexuality, colonialism, mythology, iconography and fetishism. Some of the artists that have influenced her work are Yinka Shonibare and Yasumasa Morimura.

Ms. Maharaj completed her BFA at the University of Colorado Boulder and is currently completing her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she received the …

Sameena Mustafa Interview, Uyanga Chinzorig

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Sameena Mustafa is a stand-up comedian, actor, and writer named in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago 2016 issue. She has been featured in videos by The Onion and performed on world-famous stages like the Laugh Factory and Biograph Theater. A Northwestern University graduate, Sameena is a sought-after speaker and host, praised for founding Simmer Brown, a comedy showcase featured in the Chicago Sun-Times and Redeye Chicago.

Shital Patel Interview, Alark Patel

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: Attempting, day and night, to live with a dash of color, creativity, and courage. Life is beautiful :)

Art, for me, is an exploration of my true self…with each work I come closer and closer to my own identity. It is a means through which I lose myself in a world of great wonder and amazement, only to emerge a few hours later rejuvenated, empowered, and slightly wiser than I was when I started.

My work attempts to merge the thoughts and ideals of my Indian culture with my life experiences as an American. I have been fortunate …

Mukul Roy Interview, Emily Ellert

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: [by Emily Ellert] Mukul Roy was born in Udupi, India where she was raised by her mother and father [the artist declined to specify what year she was born]. She began college there and finished her first two years, called intermediary. Then she moved to Calcutta with her family and continued studying literature there. During her time in Calcutta, there were various sociopolitical movements occurring and it resulted in a lot of violence and bombings. She met her husband in Calcutta, and in 1966 they moved to England where he was continuing his studies to be a …

Prem Sharma Interview, Ester Lee

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio [by Ester Lee]: As a co-founder of Apna Ghar, Inc. (Our Home) a shelter for surviving women and children of domestic violence was founded in 1989, Prem Sharma also helped create the Club of Indian Women and the Indo-Crisis Line prior to this. Since moving to Chicago in 1972, Ms. Sharma has been actively involved with various South Asian organizations such as Chitrahar (South Asian television show), India Tribune, The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, the Association of Indians in America, and the Indian Medical Association. An accomplished self-taught artist, Ms. Sharma has supported the arts and …