Bharat Sikka

Bharat Sikka was born and raised in India, where he began his photographic practice before studying at the Parsons School of Design, NY. Sikka’s long-term photographic projects have centered on the cultural residues and societal transformations within India, rendered with the visual language and material forms of contemporary art photography.
His work subtly speaks to India’s history and regionality (of Kashmir, in Where the Flowers Still Grow), the tide of globalisation (Matter), and masculinity (Indian Men). For Unseen 2019, Sikka created an installation version of The Sapper - his detailed and layered portrayal of his father. Sikka brought together multiple vantage points; from the remote landscapes his father inhabits and maintains to subtle still-life observations of his habits and routines. His recent work Coming Through In Waves was exhibited at Paris Photo 2022. This project made inroads and small steps in his complex navigation of youth, gender, and sexuality and looks to preserve these independent voices through the medium of photography. Bharat’s and his father’s multi-layered photographic project The Sapper is currently exhibiting at Post Books,Tokyo and the book was nominated for Paris Photobook awards 2023. Bharat Sikka resides in New Delhi, India, and continues his photographic practices.

Solo Show
2023 Waiting for midnight, Dover Street Market Ginza
2023 The Sapper, Post Books Tokyo
2023 Waiting for midnight, Nature Morte, New Delhi
2022 Waiting for midnight, Commune, Mumbai
2022 Coming through in Waves, Paris Photo
2022 Coming through in Waves, Unseen, Amsterdam
2019 The Sapper Nature Morte
2019 The Sapper, Unseen Amsterdam
2019 The Marlborough Theatre, Shed 9/ Nature Morte
2018 Where the Flowers Still Grow, Sunaparanta
2017 Where the Flowers Still Grow, Nature Morte
2017 Intimation, Focus Photo Festival
2016 Where the Flowers Still Grow, Kochi Muziris Biennale
2016 Reimagine, Photoworks and Brighton Photo Biennale
2013 Matter, Unseen Photo
2013 Matter Show Live, Focus Festival , Mumbai
2012 Matter, Nature Morte, New Delhi
2011 Matter, Nature Morte, Berlin
2010 The Road to Salvador do Mundo, Project 88, Mumbai
2010 The Road to Salvador do Mundo, Sunaparanta Art Centre, Goa
2009 Skinny Legs & All, Weiden & Kennedy, New Delhi
2009 The Road to Salvador do Mundo, Nature Morte, New Delhi
2008 Space In Between, Matthieu Foss Gallery, Mumbai
2008 Otto Zoo, Milan, Italy
2008Space In Between, Chatterjee & Lal
2008 Indian Men, Otto Zoo, Milan
2008 National Museum, New Delhi, India
2008 Nature Morte, Project Space
2007 Nature Morte and Bose Pacia, Calcutta
2007 Space in between at Le festival des recontres d’Aeles France
2006 Lille 3000, Indian Men2005 Families, Galerie Valérie Cueto, Paris
2003 Indian Men, Artist Space, New York

Monographs
2020 Waiting for Midnight, Goa Open Art Festival, Goa, India
2013 Looking For Nyamu, Lalit Kala Akadami, Perth, Australia
2012 Looking For Nyamu, Lalit Kala Akadami, New Delhi
2012 The Road To Salvador Do Mundo, Photophnom Penh, Cambodia
2012 Fotofeo "The Road To Salvador Do Mundo", Australia
2012 Matter “Divergence — Photographs from Elsewhere”, Midland Atelier, Australia
2012 The Matter Within, YBCA Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
2011 The Generation In Transition, Zacheta National Gallery Of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2011 Concurrent India, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki & Kulturhuset, Stockholm

Group Shows
2021 Matter, UP Gallery, Taiwan
2017 Intimation, Focus Photo Festival
2017 'Matter' a part of A Million Mutinies Later – India at 70, as part of Diffusion: Cardiff
International Festival of Photography
2010 Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years Of Photography From India, Pakistan And
Bangladesh, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2010 Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years Of Photography From India, Pakistan And
Bangladesh, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
2009 The Purple Wall, Curated By Gayatri Sinha, India Art Summit, New Delhi
2009 Il Giallo Di Napoli, Castel Dell’ovo, Napoli
2009 Bharat Sikka / Krzysztof Bednarski - Il Giallo Di Napoli Nell'europa Dei Cinque
Continenti, Al Blu Di Prussia, Napoli
2009 India Moderna, Ivam Institut Valencià D’art Modern, Valencia
2009 India 3: New Delhi "Republic Of Illusions", Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna
2008 Tarn Et Garonne - Landscapes And Portraits, Place Des Invalides, Paris
2008 Entry In The Neuflise Vie Collection For Photography, Paris 2008 1x1 Gallery, Dubai
2007 Rencontres D'arles (July — September 2007), Space In-between
2006 Armory Show, New York
2006 Paris Photo, Anne De Villepoix