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Sujata Majumdar
Born 1976
Lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.sujata.nl
Sujata Majumdar is a photographer working with the
theme of landscape. Her works are the refl ection of her
own hybrid identity in the landscape around her.
Sujata's artistic endeavour emerges from the need to
reconcile the different sides of herself. Her work seeks a
balance between Eastern and Western cultures, natural
and man-made, science and art, observation and
refl ection. This arises from her background in different
cultures, being British, Indian, living in the Netherlands
since 2001 and having studied art as well as science.
Boundary situations and the balancing of opposing
tendencies are the essence of her ‘abstracted
landscapes’. They are her aesthetics laid bare. Through
these abstractions of the landscape around her, she
can indirectly express her heritage and the complexity
and challenge of having a mixed identity. The pull
of different tendencies in her identity as a whole,
means that she is constantly seeking balance. In her
photographs this balance can pertain to urban and
rural, organic and inorganic forms, order and chaos.
Her fundamental motivation is unifi cation and the
blurring of boundaries.
The Banyan Tree is a symbol for my extended family
whose origin is in West Bengal, India. Members of the
family up and leave to drop roots and settle in another
place. From there they spread again. Through the same
process, a single Banyan tree becomes a whole forest.
After 250 years - the age of this tree in Kolkata - you can
no longer tell where the beginning was. In this way the
Banyan represents whole diaspora.
SUJATA MAJUMDAR is an emerging photographer/artist. She
graduated in late 2012 and has been published and exhibited
as GUP New talent and was asked to exhibit at Naarden 2013
fotofestival on The Fence. 'Quiet Refl ections on My Heritage',
her solo exhibition in early 2013, took place at Gallery Ashok in
Amsterdam. Her 'Roots/Banyan tree' has been published in the
Interartive online journal of contemporary art and thought, and
'Cemetery Wall' was exhibited in December 2013 in the W-CA
Contemporary Landscape Photography group exhibition at
the Worcester City Museum and Gallery. Projects / exhibitions:
include: ICT Art Connect Residency 2014 FoAM/European
Commission, GUP New 2013, Naarden Fotofestival 2013, W-CA
Worcester Contemporary Landscape Photography 2013, Sari
Sirens performance at Mezrab 2013, Close memories, distant
places 2012, Marginal Gardens 2010, Instant Nature 2009.
Right: Budapest Walls, 2004, Photography, printed on digital archive paper, mounted on Di-bond.
h: 100cm w: 67cm d: 2cm, Artist’s Collection. Edition of 10.
Above: Cemetery Wall, 2011, Medium format photography, printed on digital archive paper, mounted on aluminium.
h: 60cm w: 60cm d: 2cm, Artist’s Collection, Edition of 10.
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