Cop Shiva
India
In 2001, COP Shiva migrated from his village in Ramanagara District, Karnataka, to join the police force in Bangalore as a Constable.
In 2007, while continuing to be a Constable in the police department, COP Shiva began working as the volunteer coordinator at 1.Shanti Road Studio/Gallery,Bangalore. It gave him an opportunity to work with, as well as learn from the many visiting artists. He quit the police force in 2019 and thereafter has been a full time practicing artist.
In his practice, COP Shiva documents the complexity of rural and urban India, focusing on people and portraiture as a genre. He is fascinated with the idea of ‘the masquerade’ and the roles people play in public and private. His portfolio includes intimate portraits of urban migrants, people of alternative sexuality, street performers and others living in the hinterland of urban and rural conflict. COP Shiva has been the recipient of 2023 Sovereign Asian Art Public Vote Prize (Hong Kong) & the 2023 Fellowship of The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University.
He is also the recipient of the Laspis Residency Program by the Swedish Arts Council (2017), and the Studio Residency by Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council (2019). Additionally, he has been awarded a National Contemporary Art Award by the Ministry of Culture (2016). COP Shiva’s work has been featured in several group shows, and in international art festivals such as Chobi Mela (2013) in Bangladesh, Kochi Biennale(2015) and Chennai Photo Biennale(2019). He is represented by Gallery Sumukha in Bangalore and Art Heritage Gallery in New Delhi.
My mother Gowri and her many technicolored saris
Cop Shiva’s series, called, ‘My mother Gowri and her many technicolored saris’, focuses on his mother and her vibrant collection of saris. In his accompanying note, the artist explains that his mother once owned very few saris, often borrowing them from friends or relatives for special occasions. After finding financial success in his artistic career, Cop Shiva took his mother on a sari-shopping spree, fulfilling her long-held desires. The works are a heartfelt tribute to his mother and the sari, immortalized through his photographs.
