Join artists Indira Freitas Johnson, Gunjan Kumar and Kunal Sen as they lead a special tour of the exhibition "What is Seen and Unseen: Mapping South Asian American Art" on Saturday, September 7 from 2-4 pm. Come hear them talk about their work, their artistic explorations, and their own stories of working as artists in Chicago.
What is Seen and Unseen is part of the Terra Foundation’s Art Design Chicago 2024, a citywide collaboration that highlights Chicago’s artistic heritage and creative communities
About the artists
Indira Freitas Johnson: Born in Mumbai, India, Indira Freitas Johnson’s distinctive identity is a synthesis of sculptor, cultural worker, peace activist and educator. Johnson’s art practice is based on the premise that cultural and creative expression is a means to promote deep and lasting social change.
Exhibited nationally and internationally Johnson’s work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the Library of Congress, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL. Haeinsa Temple, Hapcheon, South Korea, Chicago Veteran’s Home, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan WI. City of Evanston, Evanston, IL, Arkansas Arts Center, Decorative Arts Museum. Little Rock, AR. and the Chicago Transit Authority.
Gunjan Kumar: Gunjan Kumar was born in Ludhiana, India, in 1980, and moved to the United States in 2011. She currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. Gunjan is a materialist and works widely with various pigments and textiles from the around the world. She has spent many years traveling through India and other countries in South Asia observing age-old practices in textiles and indigenous arts. Her interest in archeology, particularly prehistoric cave paintings and related schools of art that she has been researching for many years, play an important role in carving her process and ideology.
Her works have been exhibited at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Donnelley Foundation, TEDx Chicago, Chicago Artist Coalition, South Asia Institute in Chicago, National College of Arts, Lahore, Art Dubai, India Art Fair, among others. She is currently a resident at the Chicago Art Department and has formarly been a resident fellow at the Edward Albee Foundation, Montauk, NY. Gunjan’s works are in the collections of the Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi, Currell Collection, London, Edward Albee Foundation, New York, BML Munjal University, New Delhi, and other private collections.
Kunal Sen: Kunal Sen was born in Calcutta, India, in 1954. After studying Physics, he came to the United States in 1983 to obtain his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence. After receiving his doctorate, he worked as a Scientist designing medical diagnostic systems. For the last 25 years, he has led the technology groups at the Encyclopædia Britannica Group of companies.
Kunal started making art in 2012. He combines his electronic engineering and computer programming skills with drawing and painting skills he picked up at the University of Illinois and the Art Institute of Chicago. His work spans various mediums, including painting, sculpture, and kinetic sculptures, using active electronics. Kunal’s work is primarily conceptual and often deals with the impact of technology on societies. His choice of medium and style is guided mainly by the specific message he is trying to convey, which explains his unusually varied visual expression and his refusal to stay within a single pattern. Kunal’s work has been shown widely in the United States.