In this audio visual presentation Diwan Manna will discuss his four series of works: Alienation (1980), photographs created in 1980 revolving around the life of peons in the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, emphasising an increasing alienation in society; Violence (1985), a body of work around insidious and unrecognised forms of degradation of life and loss of honour in ourselves and in others; Shores of the Unknown(2000), artworks in which Manna touches upon various facets about death – imaginary, real or constructed; and After the Turmoil (2003), a work based on the theme of optimism in trying to come to terms with a traumatic past and its newfound freedom.

Diwan Manna was born in 1958, in Bareta, a small town in the state of Punjab in India. He studied print making at the Government College of Art, Chandigarh. Manna is a pioneer among art photographers in India and one of the first exponents of conceptual photography in the country. Diwan combines photography with painting, body arts and acting to create works that defy definition. He has received the National Academy award by National Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art) along with many other prestigious awards and honours including AIFACS in 1995 and 1996, Photo Artist of the Year Honour, 19th Biennial Convention of Federation of Indian Photography (FIP), 1998; State Lalit Kala Akademy, Punjab,1996. Fifteen of his works are in the permanent collection of Museum of Asian Art, Berlin; twenty eight works in the Museum of Modern Art, St-Etienne, France; four works in Government Museum & Art Gallery, Chandigarh; Fine Arts Museum, Panjab University, Chandigarh, eight works with Deutsche Bank and in many other institutions and private collections in India and abroad. He has been exhibiting his work in prestigious museums and galleries in France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland and India since 1986.

Diwan Manna is the President (Honorary) Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, State Academy of Art, Ministry of Culture, Government of Punjab, India, since October 2016. He was the Director of Triennale India 2014-15, India’s only Triennale being held since 1968 by the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India). Manna was also the Chairperson (Honorary) of Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, State Academy of Art, Chandigarh Administration, UT. June 2008 to July 2015.

This talk is organised in collaboration with Black Country Visual Arts