I am the fly on the wall, capturing silent conversations through my lens, in studios of fellow artists. Each shutter click, an intimate archive, a moment etched and a memory frozen.
Manisha Gera Baswani a practicing visual artist stumbled upon the soul-stirring journey of intimately capturing through her lens, fellow artists in their studios and the denizens of the arts community of the Indian subcontinent. ‘Artist through the Lens’ enters its 25th year.
Born to parents of pre-partition India, Manisha’s understanding of India’s Partition evolved through the narration of bedtime stories and inexhaustible personal anecdotes of the lost paradise. In their nineties, her parents still mourn the loss of home that they fled overnight, never to return.
Manisha visited Karachi in 2015 to photograph artists in their studios for her project. A tearful conversation with a longtime artist friend about the enduring pain of both their parents post Partition birthed ‘Postcards from Home,’ a project on India’s Partition. 47 artists from India and Pakistan each linked through ancestral ties to Partition and photographed by Baswani reminisce a ‘Home’ lost. In doing so a silent shared grief built over decades is bridged in remembrance of a time and place left behind.
-640x480-1.jpg)
-640x480-1.jpg)
EXHIBITING ARTIST
Manisha Gera Baswani
Manisha Gera Baswani, a visual artist, weaves painting, photography, sculpture, and poetic writing. ‘Artist through the Lens’, an ongoing photographic project in its 25th year, is an intimate documentation of artist studios and the extended art community. The project birthed ‘Postcards from Home,’ a historic documentation of 47 Indian and Pakistani artists honouring the shared history of India’s Partition. It is a personal homage to her parents’ memories reminiscing their home and generational friendships across the border.
A dedicated arts educator and community builder, Manisha has spoken on the spirit of her art practice across platforms such as TEDx.