Born in 1993 in Varanasi, India, Janhavi Khemka is an interdisciplinary artist who graduated with a B.F.A. in Painting from the Faculty of Visual Art, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in 2015, and an M.F.A. in Graphics from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan in 2017. She also studied Studio Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA in 2023.
Khemka has participated in many major exhibitions in India and internationally, including solo shows such as Unit #1505, Comfort Station, Chicago in 2023; UnMute at SITE Sharp Gallery, Chicago in 2022. She was a part of group shows including What We Inherit at University Art Gallery, Truman State University, MO, USA in 2023; ‘Coalesce’ at CSI Project Space, 1912 North Damen, Chicago in 2023; Neighbors 2023, Purple Window Gallery, at Mana Contemporary, Chicago in 2023; Open Water: Permeating Territories, Chicago in 2023; Where She Comes From, NEIU Fine Arts Gallery, Chicago, USA in 2022; A Photographic Image as Text Part I, Jolly Art Adda, Mumbai, India, Press Forward at Box 13 Art Space, Texas in 2021; Embodied Histories: Reconstructing the Present at Gallery SAIC, Chicago in 2021; ‘Aroh’ at Emami Art, Kolkata in 2021; Print Exposition at Rashid Chowdhury Art Gallery, Chittagong in 2017; The Shape of Things at Ganges Art Gallery, Kolkata in 2017; and many more.
Khemka has been a part of numerous workshops and art camps including one on Japanese Woodblock Printmaking with artist Paul Furneaux at Edinburgh, UK in 2018; National Printmaking Camp at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, College of Arts, Bengaluru, India in 2018; and International Graphic Arts Festival, Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh, India in 2018.
She was part of many residency programs, including the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, Delavan, WI, US in 2023; Visualizing Language, Piramal Art Residency, Mumbai, India in 2020; and The International Art Residency Program at The Institute of Fine Art, Chittagong, Bangladesh in 2017, among many others.
Khemka is a recipient of many awards and fellowships, including the UC Berkeley South Asia Artists Prize for 2024 by the South Asia Art Initiative, 63rd National Award 2023, Lalit Kala Academi, in printmaking; Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation Award for Printmaking (2021, 2018); and the First Printmaking Prize Gate44 (Milan, 2019). Her works are a part of several important collections, including the KNMA, New Delhi, India and the Alkazi Foundation, India.
Khemka’s work is currently on view as a part of the Ground Floor Biennial Exhibition of New Art from Chicago at Hyde Park Art Center.
Janhavi Khemka works between Santiniketan, Varanasi and Chicago.