Sharmila Samant

Sharmila Samant is a visual artist from Bombay/India.

She graduated with a degree in sculpture from the Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai, in 1989 and obtained a diploma in interior design and decoration from the L.S. Raheja College of Architecture in 1990. She then completed a residency at the Kanoria Center for Arts, Ahmedabad, in 1992–1993, followed by a residency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam/Netherlands, in 1998–2000 and Gasworks, London, in 2001.

She works with a variety of media and forms, such as installations, performance, and photography. Globalization, identity, and consumer culture are issues central to her work. Samant has worked with activist groups and communities, engaging in both collaborative and participatory art projects, expressing her deep empathy for suppressed and marginalized voices.

She is the co-founder of a Mumbai-based collective called the Open Circle, which aimed to create a platform for meaningful dialogue among artists on an intercultural level and sought to address and engage with contemporary socio-political issues through the integration of theory and practice. At the interface of both private and public spheres, Samant has engaged in collaborative and participatory art projects with various communities while exploring ideas of exchange, accessibility, and authorship. Her installations and video works have been part of many prominent exhibitions in biennales, museums, artist-led spaces, and alternative venues in India and abroad.

Samant has curated international events, screenings, and exhibitions individually and in collaboration. From 2011–2019, she was an advisor to the Art1st Foundation, which advocates for increased visual literacy, creative skills, cultural awareness, and art pedagogy among children and educators. She has been a member of the academic council of the G5A Foundation For Contemporary Culture, Mumbai, since 2013, which supports contemporary art and culture, good governance, and sustainability. Additionally she has been on the advisory body of Arthshila, a Patna-based cultural initiative, since 2017, also holding the position of advisor to the Neekoee Foundation in Ahmedabad, which promotes visual art, performance practices, and education, since 2020.

She was invited to join the core faculty at the Department of Art, Design, and Performance of the Shiv Nadar University in setting up its MFA program in 2013 and has been co-initiator of the October School since 2017. InOctober.org, a network of art universities and institutions established to consolidate and deepen research and education on relevant public issues and artistic phenomena, constitutes a cluster of competence for educational, research, and teaching skills in the field of contemporary public art. Since 2019, Samant has worked as an artist and researcher at the Compound13 LAB, Dharavi, Mumbai since 2019, residing and working in the city permanently since 2022.