Gunjan Kumar | Resident

Gunjan Kumar is an Indian-American artist and scholar based in Chicago, originally from Punjab, India. Kumar received her Bachelor’s in Arts from DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, and is a postgraduate in Textiles from the National Institute of Design and Technology, New Delhi.

She has spent many years traveling through India and other South Asian countries, studying age-old practices in textiles, indigenous arts and crafts, and visiting archaeological sites to observe prehistoric paintings and tribal arts. These experiences form the foundation of her artistic practice. Her process involves using ground earth and organic matter as core mediums, applied on natural surfaces with techniques inspired by traditional methods.

Her works have been exhibited worldwide and are part of noted private collections globally. She has been a resident fellow at the Edward Albee Foundation, Montauk, NY (2016–2017) and Chicago Art Department (2021–2023).

Kumar recently concluded The Sindhu Project with American-Pakistani artist Mahwish Chishty, which presents their artistic responses to the exploration of archaeological sites and artifacts in the Sindhu (Indus) watershed, a geographical region spanning northwest India and much of Pakistan. This project premiered as a two-person show at the South Asia Institute, Chicago (June 2021) and was later exhibited at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan (November 2021) and Gallery Exhibit320, in collaboration with the American Embassy, New Delhi (April 2022).

As an independent educator, she has worked with institutions such as the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; Harper College, Palatine, IL; Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL; Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis; Design Museum of Chicago; Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art; and the Chicago Artists Coalition, among others.