Umesh S b. 1992

Umesh Singh (b.1992, Bhojpur, Bihar) completed his BFA (Painting) from the Faculty of Visual Arts, Banaras Hindu University in 2017. He then completed his MFA (Print-making) from the S.N. School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, in 2019. His accolades include the Kala Sakshi Memorial Trust Scholarship and Award in 2018, the Tata Trust International Award in the Students Biennale in 2019, Kochi Muziris Biennale. He is a part of the extended support platform (FICA and MMF) for the Emerging Artist Award 2020 and was a part of the Arthshila X Khoj Artists Residency at Siwan, Bihar in 2022. He was an artist-in-residence at the Khoj Peers Residency in 2019.

His exhibitions include Call To Disorder, FICA and SAF at Serendipity Festival, Goa in 2019; Broken Foot, Unfolding Inequalities by Artist United Collective in 2020; Zones of Convergence and Divergence, an online exhibition by The Guild, Mumbai in 2020, and a Group exhibition at Hyderabad Literature Festival, 2021. His workshops include the Students Biennale Performance Art Workshop, Kochi Biennale Foundation, 2016; an onsite workshop and exhibition by FICA and SAF in 2019, and Toxicity Philosophy Unbound Alternative Art Symposium at Chitkara University, Punjab, 2020.

Umesh Singh likes to pursue his practice through new media art and maps a dialogue between agrarian metaphors and the actuality of social and religious hierarchies in Bhojpur, Bihar. His art practice is rooted in articulating the strife of agrarian livelihoods as well as issues relating to education and the environment. His practice shows a strong link with the conception of spatial subjectivity, taking from people and places, and a deep relationship with Agricultural landscapes.

He seeks to create pessimistic visuals with an aesthetic that talks about space and a struggle for space. He relishes the village life as brought up in a farmer’s family, which has now shifted to other occupations. He attempts to incorporate his experiences, scrutiny, reminiscence, and present-day situations into his art practice.

Umesh currently lives and works in Varanasi, India.