Priya Kambli Presentation
Sunday, Dec 10, 2017
10am
Free and open to the public

Priya Kambli’s artwork is intrinsically tied to her own family’s photographic legacy and her move at age 18, following the death of her parents, from India to the United States. Before she emigrated, she and her sister split their photographic inheritance in half. One portion remained in India, and the other was displaced along with Priya, in America. For the past decade, that archive of family photographs has been Priya’s primary source material in creating bodies of work which explore the migrant narrative and experience; albeit through a personal lens. Priya’s work has always touched upon universal themes, with the potential to start a dialogue about cultural differences and universal similarities. In the last year those private references and broad themes have taken on a new public significance that requires a creative response, by delving deeper into her own immigrant narrative, engaging with its personal but increasingly, if accidentally, political context.

In this free public presentation, Priya Kambli will discuss her bodies of work which explore the migrant narrative and experience as seen through a personal lens, beginning with her book Color Falls Down, and continuing through her latest project Buttons for Eyes.

Priya Kambli was born in India. She moved to the United States at age 18 carrying her entire life in one suitcase. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and continued on to receive a Masters degree in Photography from the University of Houston. Priya is currently Professor of Art at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. In 2008 PhotoLucida awarded her a book publication prize for her project Color Falls Down, published in 2010. Priya was named 3rd Place PhotoNOLA Review Prize Winner in 2011, and 2nd Place PhotoNOLA Review Prize Winner in 2016. Her recent project, Shubh Mangal Savdhan, was recognized as a 2017 Critical Mass Top 50 portfolio.

Priya’s exhibition, Kitchen Gods, is on view at Staple Goods from December 9, 2017 – January 7, 2018.