Sajitha R. Shankhar (Sajitha Gouwry) (Malayalam: സജിത ആർ ശങ്കർ; born 9 December 1967) is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist from India. Her paintings are featured in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore; the National Gallery of Modern Art; the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhim; and the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. Her preferred medium is charcoal and acrylic on paper. Her most recent installation is titled Tantric Yoni, a painting made out of turmeric, vermilion powder, rice powder, and burnt husk of paddy. The painting was created for the 2013 One Billion Rising campaign in Kochi.
Sajitha.r.Shankhar was born in 1967 at Kumaranalloor, Kottayam, Kerala. After successfully completing a BFA degree from the Government College of Art & Craft, Thiruvananthapuram, she worked for three years at the Regional Centre Studios of the Lalit Kala Akademi Chennai. Later, from 1989-2004, she lived and worked at Cholamandal Artists' Village. During this period, she traveled to the major art centers in the world, attended workshops, did collaborative work with other artists and writers abroad, and hosted several major art galleries across Asia and Europe. Her first solo exhibition was in 1987, at the age of 20. Sajitha has a daughter named Shilpy R. Shankar.
Sajitha was a member of the Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala, from 2002-2011. She also served as a Governing body member of Vyloppilli Samnkruti Bhavan, Trivandrum, Kerala from 2006-2011. In 2007, she founded the Gowry Art Institute on the banks of the Vamanapuram river in Kallar, with the goal of promoting the work of female artists, as well as to provide an inclusive space for promoting various cultural activities.
Sajitha R. Shankhar has held 22 solo and 50 group art shows of her works in a wide variety of cities in India, as well as others across Europe.
She has also taken part in countless workshops and art camps, as well as organizing many of her own.
2013 'Alterbodies' at Alliance Française Trivandrum.
2013 'Archetypes Alterbodies' at IGNCA, New Delhi
2009 CIRCLES siebenstern gallery, wien
2008 STREE Tracing 20 years, retrospective show at Travancore House Art Gallery, New Delhi
2007 Alliance Française Chennai.
2007 Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
2005 Selected works from 1985-2005 at Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Cochin, Kerala
2005 “A journey through Mother Roots...” at Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum.
2004 “Archetypes: A search through self” at Windspiel Galery, Vienna, Austria
2004 “Archetypes: A search through self” at Alliance Francaise de Chennai.
2000 “Congreso International Sobre Asia”, Fundacion Segundo Y Santiago Montes, Valladolid, Spain.
2000 One month exhibition, Wort und Bild Gallery, Bochum, Germany
2000 October Gallery, London
2000 “Beyond the finale...” Alliance Francaise Gallery, Chennai.
1999 “Searching from self” Queens Hall Arts Centre, Hexam, United Kingdom.
1998 Katsuyama City Centre, Japan.
1998 Werkstatt Wort und Bild, Bochum, Germany.
1998 Freud Art Cafe, Oxford, UK.
1997 “Three decades of search within” Die Galerie, Essen, Germany.
1996 “Beauty by Mistake”, The Easel Art Gallery, Chennai.
1996 “Beauty by Mistake”, Werkstatt WORT und BILD, Bochum, Germany.
1996 “Artist of the Month”, Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai.
1996 “Frauen und Wirklichkeit”, Kunstseminar Galerie, Metzingen, Germany.
1996 Saras Albano muller’s Gallery, Schwelm, Germany.
1995 “Frauen und Wirklichkeit”, Elsa Brandstrom Gymnasium, Oberhausen, Germany.
1995 Queen’s Hall Art Centre, Hexam, Northemberland, UK.
1995 Women and Reality”, Woodlands Gallery, Cochin, Kerala.
1995 Alliance Française Chennai, organized by Sarala’s Art Centre and Alliance Française
1987 College of Arts Gallery, Trivandrum. Sponsored by Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala.
2012 "speaking house" Durbar hall Art gallery, Cochin, Kerala.
2012 Lalit Kala Gallery, Rabindrabhavan, Newdelhi.
2011 ‘TRAYATY’at Glallery the Creant.Trivandrum.
2010 MY STORY NIV art centre, New delhi.
2010 British council, New delhi. Charles Wallace scholars show.
2007 Women artists show at Regional Center, Chennai.
2006 Women artists show at Dakshinachithra, Chennai.
2006 ENTRUSTED’ An exhibition of 25 Charles Wallace India Trust arts scholars, British Council, New Delhi
2005 100th Birthday Celebration of Pablo Neruda(Poet) at Wort Und Bild, Germany
2005 ‘Double Enders’ Travelling show - Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai - Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi - Durbar Hall, Cochin.
2005 ‘Women@rt’ at Forum Art Gallery, Chennai.
2004 ‘Contemplations’ an exhibition of paintings by eminent women artists, Habiart Foundation, New Delhi.
2004 ‘Contemplations’ an exhibition of paintings by eminent women artists, Gallerie Sara Arackal, Bangalore.
2003 ‘Viswakarma’ Publiekscentrum Voor Beeldende Kunst Enschede, Netherlands.
2002 ‘Viswakarma’ Kulturforum Rheine, Germany.
2002 State Exhibition of Kerala, Lalit Kala Akademi , Cochin.
2002 Women artists from India, Art World, Chennai.
2001 44th National Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi , New Delhi
2001 “Silence and Violence” black and white Drawing and Painting show, Two women artists, Lalit Kala Akademi Regional Centre, Chennai.
2000 Dreams, questions and struggles, three women artists, October Gallery, London.
2000 Woodcut Prints Exhibition at Wort und Bild, Bohum, Germany.
2000 Three artists - at Lalit Kala Akademi , Regional Centre Galleries, Chennai.
1999 Four artists - at Vinyasa Art Gallery, Chennai.
1999 Three women artists - at Art World, Chennai.
1999 Group Show of Madras artists, Vinyasa Art Gallery, Chennai.
1998 “Begegnungen” - with H.D. Golzenleuchter (German Artist print-maker & Poet), Germany.
1998 “Alchemy show”, The Apparao Gallery, Chennai.
1998 “Nomad Project, International exhibition, Durbar Hall, Cochin, Kerala.
1998 “Nudes” The Apparao Gallery, Chennai.
1998 “Nomad Project shows” Austria cultural centre, London, Contemporary art gallery, Sweden and Katsuyama city centre, Japan.
1997 Seven contemporary women artists from different countries. Alliance Francaise De Chennai.
1998 “Southern Stars” exhibition organised by The Art World, Chennai.
1997 Human Form and Art, Lalit Kala Akademi , New Delhi.
1997 Gallery 47, London, UK.
1996 “Faces and Figures”, Quay Side Gallery, U.K.
1996 12th Cleveland International Drawing Biennial, U.K.
1996 “Chennai: an Emotion. 1996”, Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art
1995 “Contemporary Miniatures”, Easel Gallery, Chennai
1995 “Women Painters Show”, Kottayam, Kerala
1995 “Second Annual Exhibition”, Chithram Art Gallery, Cochin, Kerala.
1995 “23rd State Exhibition”, Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala.
1993-94 “Research Awardees” Travelling Exhibition, L.K.A, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Calcutta, Chennai.
1993 “Two women artists”, Sarala’s Art Centre, Chennai.
1993 “Two women artists”, Chithram Art Gallery, Cochin, Kerala.
1990-93 National Exhibition of Art, New Delhi.
1989-92 Lalit Kala Akademi , Chennai.
1987,90,92 Regional Art Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi , Chennai.
1984 Women Painters Show, Trichur (first exhibition).
Awards and recognition
Sajitha R. Shankhar was awarded a Charles Wallace Fellowship in 1995. She is also the recipient of numerous other awards and grants including a Senior Fellowship from the Indian Department of Culture (2009–2011); a French scholarship for an Artist’s Residency in Paris (2006–2007); a Senior Award at the special exhibition to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Indian Independence (1997); and the Grand Prize at the Cleveland International Drawing in Biennale (1995). Besides the Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi Award and the Lion’s Club Award, Sajitha R. Shankhar was one of the 14 female artists honored by the National Legal Service Authority in 2008. She has also received an award from the Ministry of Culture in Kerala for 'Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Arts (Painting)' in 2012.
