Ketaki Sarpotdar

Under the shadow

Residency

18/08/2023 –

– 18/10

18/10/2023

1646 is happy to announce that from our annual Residency open call, artist Ketaki Sarpotdar and her project Under the shadow were selected! Ketaki will be joining us in The Hague for a working period from August to October 2023.

For her residency in The Hague, Ketaki will work on her ongoing graphic book project Under the shadow. The project sprouts from Covid 19 experiences, where Ketaki investigates how the unexpected arrival and slow-spreading of the pandemic, along with lack of knowledge in navigating through such unprecedented times, brought forth hidden thoughts, opinions and emotions. The book delves into this array of human conditions and dispositions to understand human psychology.

In the Netherlands, Ketaki is researching cartoons depicting influenza pandemics from 1918 and other periods prior to COVID-19. These illustrations give a unique insight into Dutch politics and experiences of politics from the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century.

“…in India where I come from, such art [political cartoons] is very difficult to be preserved within an institutional context due to its politically loaded contents.” — Ketaki Sarpotdar

Ketaki is interested in researching society’s struggles with misinformation and the public reaction to socio-political unrest caused by crises. Her research shows relevance in how the political themes of a century ago are still relevant today, and can be discussed in current politics.

Info

About Ketaki Sarpotdar:

Ketaki Deepak Sarpotdar is an artist based in Baroda, India, who works primarily with drawing and etching. In her work, Sarpotdar focuses on human responses to social or political situations and the psychology behind them. In order to analyse human psychology, Sarpotdar derives her visual form from literary pieces, short stories and at times poetry and folktales, which are intended to be a mirror that forces society to introspect. With her work, Sarpotdar aims to traverse polarities; to exist in the spectrum of greys that lie between the black and white; to place herself at the focal point of the polarities of truth and falsity, of right and wrong.

Sarpotdar has completed a Diploma in Fine Arts in drawing and painting from L.S.Raheja School of Art, Mumbai in 2014 and a Post Graduate in Visual Arts from the Graphics Department of M.S. University, Baroda in 2018. She has shown her work at Latitude 28 (New Delhi, IN), TAP India, M.S.University Faculty of Fine Arts (Baroda, IN), Aspinwall House (Kochi, IN), Lalit Kalia (New Delhi, IN) Mini print Biennale (Bucharest, RO), Gandhara Art Gallery (Kolkata, IN), Shanthiroad Art Residency and Gallery (Bangalore, IN), Gallery White (Baroda, IN), Galerie Mirchadani + Steinruecke (Mumbai, IN), Shridharani Gallery (New Delhi, IN), Bikaner House (New Delhi, IN), Amdavadni Gufa Gallery (Ahmedabad, IN), Nine Fish Gallery Art Fair (Mumbai, IN), Shimeesha Art Studio (Gujarat, IN), amongst others.