Chandigarh-born and USA-based Photographer and Visual Artist, Spandita Malik has recently brought laurels to the country for being honoured in the 2022 edition of ‘The 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. As per the list of honorees unveiled at the30photographers.com, Spandita is the only South Asia born photographer picked up from 330 world-renowned emerging photographers.
A group of more than 50 editors, curators, gallery directors, publishers, agents, and photographers from around the world nominated more than 330 photographers from 38 countries for this edition of The 30.
An Eye for Art
Spandita Malik, an alumnus of local Sacred Heart School and Fashion Design Graduate of NIFT, Delhi is a New York-based artist from India. She created a special niche for herself by her unique work concerned with the current global socio-political state of affairs with an emphasis on women’s rights and gendered violence. She specializes in process-based work in photography, recently with photographic surface embroideries and collaborations with women in India. Malik’s work in expanded documentary and social practice consciously emanates from the idea of decolonising the eye and aesthetic surrounding documentary photography of India.
Accolades in her Kitty
Malik received her MFA in Photography from the Parsons School of Design in 2019, where she was awarded the Dean’s Merit Scholarship, Photography Programmatic Scholarship and Graduate Travel Grant Award. She has been awarded The 30: New and Emerging Photographers Award (2022); En Foco Photography Fellowship (2021) and Firecracker Photographic Grant (2020).
Malik was also nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award (2020) and was a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize (2021). She was chosen for The Center for Photography at Woodstock Artist in Residency Program, Woodstock, NY (2021); Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts (2021); Baxter St Workspace Residency in New York (2020); Feminist Incubator Residency by Project for Empty Spaces in New Jersey (2020).
Malik’s work has been featured and reviewed in Artsy, Art Spiel, Buzzfeed, Musée Magazine, Harper’s Magazine and Elephant Magazine, she was named ‘Ones to Watch 2020’ by the British Journal of Photography. ‘Vadhu: The Embroidered Bride’, Malik’s recent solo show, opened at the Baxter St, NY in October 2021. Her work has been featured internationally in China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New York, New Zealand and UAE. Malik is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Kansas City Art Institute.
About the Program
The 30 is an annual program that celebrates early-career photographers and creates educational opportunities for photographers of all levels. It is recognized throughout the professional photography industry as a “go-to outlet to discover up-and-coming photographers” (TIME, 2015), and as a platform that helps emerging photographers grow.
The jury that selected the photographers included Nicole Frugé, Director of Visuals, San Francisco Chronicle; artist and publisher Kris Graves; Toby Kaufman, Creative Director, Meta and Pur·suit; design director Sharon Ber; and editor Conor Risch.
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