Artists > Naveen Kishore
Naveen Kishore (b. 1953) established Seagull Books in 1982, a publishing program in the arts and media focusing on drama, film, art and culture studies. Today, it also publishes literature, including poetry, serious fiction and non-fiction. In 1987, Kishore set up the Seagull Foundation for the Arts as a non-profit charitable trust. The Seagull School of Publishing was set up under the auspices of the Trust in 2012.
Kishore’s eye is informed by his deep engagement with theatre photography, a genre he has been practicing since beginning to work in theatre production in the early 1970s. He has extensively documented female impersonators from Manipuri, Bengali and Punjabi theatre practices. His interest in street photography comprises the second main thread of his oeuvre.
Profile
b. 1953
Education:
1973 Bachelor of Arts in English, St. Xavier’s College
1982 Started Seagull Books
1987 Started Seagull Foundation for the Arts
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2022 The Epic and The Elusive, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
2021 The Green Room, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai. Series: Performing the Goddess, The Green Room of the Goddess
2018 ADA: Art-Desire-Activism, Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Asoka University, Sonipat. Series: Performing the Goddess
2012 Tramp, The Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata. Series: Tramp
2007 Performing the Goddess, Cinnamon, Bangalore. Series: Performing the Goddess (Black and white photographs)
2006 Crevices, Goethe Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata
2002-3 Goethe Institut, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Jerusalem. Series: A Cannibal Time
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2021 Confronting Evil, India International Centre, New Delhi. Series: A Cannibal Time
2019 Moving Still: Performative Photography in India, curated by Diana Freundl and Gayatri Sinha, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver. Series: Performing the Goddess
2016 Looking In | Looking Out – Contemporary Indian Photography from the Gaur Collection’, Umesh Gaur, who toured a Photography exhibition. Series: Performing the Goddess
2013 United Art Fair, New Delhi. Series: Patterns
2008 Harvest, Arushi Art Gallery, New Delhi. Series: Performing the Goddess
2008 Contemporary & Modern Indian Art, Emamichisel (Emami Art), Kolkata. Series: Exit
2008 Click! Contemporary Photography in India, curated by Sunil Gupta and Radhika Singh, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi & Grosvenor Vadehra, London
2007 The Indian Sale, Sotheby’s, London. Series: Mid air
2007 Art chinois du XXe siècle et art indien moderne et contemporain, Artcurial – Briest – Le Fur – Poulain – F.Tajan. Series: Watching kali (The dark goddess)
2007 Contemporary Art South Asia, Sotheby’s, New York. Series: Performing the Goddess
2007 Conference on culture, Sao Paulo
2001 Woman/Goddess, Indian Centre of Art and Culture, New York. Series: Performing the Goddess
1999 Woman/Goddess, The Queen’s Gallery, The British Council, New Delhi. Series: Performing the Goddess
Screenings:
2019 Performing the Goddess: Chapal Bhadhuri’s story (1999), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
2018 Performing the Goddess: Chapal Bhaduri’s story (1999), India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2000 Performing the Goddess: Chapal Bhaduri’s story (1999), Montreal Documentary Festival, Montreal
2000 Performing the Goddess: Chapal Bhaduri’s story (1999), Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai
2000 Milan and Bologna at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals
Collections:
– Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art
– Auctioned at Contemporary Art South Asia’, Sotheby’s, New York, 2007
Publications:
– Without Compass or Map, CAFO, Conference of Asian Foundations and Organizations
– Against the Light, Seagull’s 20th year special catalogue
– Paris: Music Project, Changemakers Ashoka Foundation
– Photo essay on Performing the Goddess, The Drama Review
– Focus Indonesia, Seagull Theatre Quarterly
– A cannibal time, Seagull Theatre Quarterly
– Focus Manipur, Seagull Theatre Quarterly
– Astad Deboo photographs, Seagull Theatre Quarterly
Residency:
2006 Paris: Music Project. 3 months Residency with French Embassy. Shooting and interviewing French musicians who are off the beaten track but all sharing a certain kind of humanity and political view of the world. Part of these photographs were shown in Kishore’s series Tramp.
