Shilpa Gupta's 100 Hand drawn Maps series draws us into the complexities of the construction and delineation of space articulated by man-made borders. In its first rendition in 2007, as a video projection on a table, it features numerous representations of the Indian map, drawn from memory by 100 Indian adults. The variety of forms produced throws into question how political border are created, imagined and learnt. A highly subjective interpretation of the territory of a nation sees states skipped or incorporated with the attitude of each author. The work is made in times where the identity of the nation state has been emphasized and the relationship between an individual and the imagined state is ambivalent.

Since its inception in 2007, the artist has collected maps from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Montreal, Cuenca, different parts of Italy, Delme. At each instance, the participant is invited to ‘draw a map of his/her country’ and using carbon paper, the maps are traced and layered upon each other. Recently while collecting maps from Gwangju, Seoul, Cheorwon, most participants drew North and South Korea as one country. Shown along with other maps at the Gwanju Biennale 2018, on the occasion of which curator Gridthiya Gaweewong wrote in the biennale catalogue, “This project is relevant to Korean’s contemporary history, particularly the recent meeting between the North and South Korean leaders in the demilitarized zone and their preparations towards negotiating future unification. Gupta’s work on this moment, which Koreans have been waiting for since the end of World War II. This participatory works will perhaps be able to show us how contemporary artistic practice can play an important role as the visual representation of the citizen and as a collective national imagination.”
100 people were invited to make a hand drawn map of their country – in Mumbai; Cuenca; Delme; Gwangju, Seoul, Cheorwon: Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; Montreal and different parts of Italy.

SELECTED | DRAWINGS | 2019 | ‘Altered Inheritances: Home is a Foreign Place’, Two person solo with Zarina, Ishara Art Foundation, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. Curated by Nada Raza | ‘The center will not hold’, MACD, Manila. Curated by Ian Carlos Jaucian | 2018 | ‘Imagined Borders: Facing Phantom Borders Gwangju Biennale 2018’, Gwangju Biennale Hall. Curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong | ‘India Re- Worlded: Seventy Years of Investigating a Nation’, Gallery Odyssey, Mumbai. Curated by Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala 2015 | ‘Impulses in Drawing’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, Curated by Shivangi Singh | 2014 | ‘Shilpa Gupta’, Galeria Continua, San Gimignano

SELECTED | VIDEO | 2020 | ‘Le Monde à Plat’, Villa Empain, Brussels. Curated by Alfred Pacquement | 2018 | ‘Fearless – contemporary South Asian art’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Curated by Natalie Seiz | ‘Habit—co—Habit’, Pune Biennale 2017, Pune. Curated by Zasha Colah and Luca Cerizza | 2013 | ‘Solo Show’, MAAP Space, Brisbane. Curated by Kim Machan | 2012 | ‘Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space’, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Curated by Green Cardamom| 2011 | ‘Indian Highway’, MAXXI, Rome. Curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Gunnar B. Kvaran and Giulia Ferracci | 2009 | ‘Freedom Is Notional’, Experimenter, Kolkatta | 2009 | ‘Second Moon’, Solo, Galeria Continua, San Gimignano | 2008 | ‘Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art’, Mori Museum, Japan | 2009 | ‘Solo Show’, Lalit Kala Akademi with Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi | 2008 | ‘BlindStars StarsBlind’, Galerie Volker Diehl and BodhiBerlin, Berlin | ‘BlindStars StarsBlind’, Bodhi, Mumbai