Saba Hasan is a leading contemporary artist with a multimedia repertoire developed over three decades of highly distinguished practice. She is best known for the conceptual and lyrical strength of her works, layered with undertones her art evokes forces of time, nature and personal histories in a profound nuanced voice. Stemming from her training in anthropology Saba’s art practice is further informed by cultural and social perspectives producing a rich interplay of ideas and an idiosyncratic creative vision. Her conversation-based video La Verite/ Haqeeqat explores notions of truth in its philosophical, ethical and political facets. It was screened at the Sarai Reader 09 curated by RAQS Media Collective and finalist for the Celeste Contemporary Art Prize 2014, Milan. Saba's walks in cities she has lived in like Delhi, Paris, Lausanne, New York have produced her acclaimed photographs of water bodies which evince a strong metaphysical cadence such as Walking in Deer Park. A soundscape emerging from these walks was aired on Osso Radio Portugal 2013 as part of an international public project mapping 25 cities through sound. With her book sculptures Saba ushers in philosophical abstractions related to truth, haqeeqat and faith revealing pitfalls in human knowledge as she fashions books into fragile intimate art pieces imbuing them with fresh meaning. Saba’s works have been exhibited at major venues like the 55th International Venice Biennale via the Imago Mundi Foundation, the Bilbao Arte Fondazio, Spain, the National Gallery of Art Colombo, the Fortezza Da Basso Florence, the Hohenburg Castle, Salzburg, Assab One Milan, the Chelsea Film Festival New York, Fisura International Film Festival, Mexico, Vienna Film Awards and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi. Recipient of the Raza National Award for Painting 2006, the Pollock - Krasner Foundation Grant, 2022, The Mannheim Arts Festival Best Art Film Award 2023, The FICIMAD Best Screenplay Award 2024, Saba works from her studios in Delhi, Goa and New York.
Education/Awards/Residencies
Best Screenplay Microfilms, FICIMAD, Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Madrid, Spain, 2024
Best Artist Short Film, Mannheim Arts and Film Festival, Mannheim, Germany 2023
Finalist Experimental Short Film, Vienna International Film Awards, Austria 2023
The Pollock - Krasner Artist Grant recipient, 2022
Live Drawing Studio, National Arts Students League of New York, 2019
Printmaking Studio, Manhattan Graphics, New York, 2016
Jeff Hirst's Studio, Chicago, 2016
International Artists Grant, the Japan Foundation, 2015
Moscow Foto Awards, Moscow, 2014
Celeste Contemporary Art Prize, video finalist, Milan, 2013
Materials of Thought in Sculpture, Oscar Kokoschka Academy, Salzburg, 2010
The RPG Art Residency, Madh Island, Bombay, 2008
Artist Residency Award, Cultural Ministry of France, Paris, 2006
The Raza National Award for Painting, New Delhi, 2005
The Florence Biennale, Duomo de Lorenzo, Florence, Italy, 2004
George Keyt Foundation, Artist in residence, Colombo,2002
Diploma in Art History, Cambridge University, UK, 2000
Akademie, Centruleum, Ecole D’Arts Visuels, Lausanne, 1998
Fellowship for PhD in Cultural Anthropology, Syracuse University, 1986
MA Cultural Anthropology, Delhi University, 1985
BA honours, Economics, Delhi University, 1983
Film Screenings/Official Selection
Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Madrid, La Filmoteca Espanola, Madrid, Spain, 2024
Vienna International Film Awards, Finalist Best Experimental Short Film, Vienna, Austria, 2023
Amarcort Film Festival, Experimental Films, Rimin, Italy, 2023
Cinemistica Film Festival of Art Films, Granada, Spain, 2023
Manheim Arts and Film Festival, The Atlantis, Manheim, Germany 2023
Bideodromo International Experimental Film and Video Festival, Bilbao Arte Fundazioa, Bilbao, Spain, 2022
Fisura Festival Internacional De Cine Y Video Experimental, official entry, Mexico City, Mexico 2022
The Indo French International Film Festival, Pondicherry, award winner, India 2021
VAICA2, curator Bharati Kapadia and Chandita Mukherjee, The Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai 2021
The India International Centre, Women in Films, New Delhi, India 2020
Arte International Film Festival, official selection, Madrid and Berlin, Europe 2020
International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Cinema of Resistance, curator Amrit Gangar, Trivandrum 2019
VAICA - Videos by Artists, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Museum of Goa, G5A Centre for Contemporary Art, India 2019
The Chelsea Film Festival, official selection, twilight on the lake, New York City, USA 2018
The Balinale, Bali International Film Festival, official selection, Indonesia 2017
Celeste Contemporary Art Prize Exhibition, Assab One, Milan 2016
Selected Solo Shows
The Interconnected Universe, Gallerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Francaise, New Delhi, India, 2017
Chromatic Resonance, Tenshin Okakura gallery, Japan Cultural Foundation, India, 2016
Undeciphered Fates, Gallery Art and Aesthetic, New Delhi, India, 2014
Rehearsal for a Poem, sound installation, Gandhi King Plaza, India International Centre, 2013
Saba Hasan New Works, Gallery Art Konsult, New Delhi, India, 2012
Indifferent History, Cymroza Gallery, Mumbai, India, 2008
Letters from Baton Rouge, Karma Artisanal Crafts and Art Gallery, Paris, France, 2006
The Book of Disquiet, Gallerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Francaise, new delhi, 2005
The Silence From Which a Woman Speaks, National Lalit Kala Academy gallery, New Delhi, 2000
Hauz Khas Uneffaced, India International Centre, New Delhi, 1998
Selected Group Shows
Celebrating Creative Expressions, curator Uma Prakash, Gallery Art Konsult, India 2024
Lights, Colour, Prufrock, India Habitat Centre, VAG, New Delhi, India 2023
Tribute to FN Souza, curator S Satchidanandan, Museum of Goa, Goa, India 2021
Bideodromo International Experimental Film and Video Festival, Bilbao Arte Fundazioa, Bilbao, Spain, 2022
Fisura Festival Internacional De Cine Y Video Experimental, Mexico City, 2022
VAICA2, curator Bharati Kapadia and Chandita Mukherjee, The Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India, 2021
National Exhibition of Women Artists, curator Uma Nair, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India, 2021
Visions in the Making site 2, curators Myna Mukherjee &David Quadrio, Italian Embassy Booth, India Art Fair, 2020
International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Cinema of Resistance, curator Amrit Gangar, Trivandrum, India, 2019
VAICA - Videos by Artists, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Museum of Goa, G5A Centre for Contemporary Art, India, 2019
Twilight On the Lake, official entry, Chelsea Film Festival, New York, USA, 2018
Twilight On the Lake, official entry, Bali international film festival, Bali, Indonesia, 2018
India at 70 by ICCR, Bangkok Centre for Art and Culture, Thailand, 2017
Celeste Prize for Contemporary Art Exhibition, Haqeeqat Project video, Assab One, Milan, 2016
Walking on 84rth Street as part of John Cage’s Soundwalk 09, Met Breuer, New York, USA2015
Sound Map of the World, Osso Radio Soundscape, Lisbon, Portugal, 2015
Performa, poetry reading video, curator Manoj Nair, Kochi Muziris Biennale, India, 2015
Angaarey, MF Husain Museum, Ahmedabad, 2015
Contemporary Art of India and Spain, Instituto Cervantes de Nueva, curator Elizabeth Rogers, 2015
Forms of Activism, curators Vivan Sundaram and Sasha Altaf, SAHMAT 25 years, India, 2014
Moscow Foto awards, Walking in Deer Park Series, Moscow, Russia, 2014
Sarai Reader 09, curator RAQS Media Collective, Devi Museum of Contemporary Art, India, 2013
55th international Venice Biennale, Song of a Departing Day, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, collateral event, Venice, 2013
The Abstraction of Myth and Memory, curator Myna Mukherjee, Engendered Gallery, India, 2013
Circling the Confluence, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore, 2012
Aviraam, Raza Awardees Exhibition, Vadehra Art Gallery, India, 2011
Materials of Thought in Sculpture, The Hohenburg Castle, Salzburg, Austria, 2010
Contemporary Drawings, curator Amit Mukhopadhyay, Emami Chisel Art, Calcutta, India, 2010
Dus Mahavidyas/ Ten Creative Forces, curator Ravi Kumar, Gallery Time and Space, Tao Gallery, Gallery Nvya ,2008 - 2009
Abstraction of Silence, Gallery Mueller and Plate, Munich, 2009
Indian Art at the Asian Art Museum, ICCR, Bangkok Centre for Art, Bangkok, Thailand, 2008
Artists from India and Sri Lanka, National Museum of Modern Art, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2002
The Written Word, Apparao Gallery, Madras, 2000
Books with more information on Saba Hasan
Saba Hasan : Undeciphered Fates by Rahul Bhattacharya, Barefoot Publishers, New York
The Indian Art Collectors Handbook by Dr Alka Pande, Roli Books, New Delhi, India
Ten Creative Forces by Keshav Malik, Ravi Kumar Publishers, Paris, France
International Contemporary Artists by Olga Antoniadou, EU Art Publication, UK
Islamic Art, Past and Modern by Nuzhat Kazmi, India
Samvaya published by the Raza Foundation, India