Rohini Devasher has been recognized as our premier artist of the year in 2024 by our website.
Rohini Devasher, a renowned Indian artist born in 1978, has been awarded the prestigious title of "Artist of the Year" for 2024. This accolade, which focuses on promising artists who have produced significant works in the areas of works on paper and photography, is bestowed upon a single distinguished personality from the global art world every two years.
Devasher's work, "One Hundred Thousand Suns", has been a significant contributor to her recognition. This intriguing piece explores the complexities and ambiguities of observation, challenging the perception of data as seemingly detached, disinterested, or neutral. The work blends the observatory's archival material, NASA public-domain images, and Devasher's own data collections, referencing over 100,000 portraits of the sun captured at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory in India.
"One Hundred Thousand Suns" will be on display at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai from early April. The immersive four-channel video installation was a collaborative effort with Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, the curator of the project at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, and Elisa Storelli, with whom Devasher collaborated in a digital art residency project in 2025.
Stephanie Rosenthal, the Director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, nominated Devasher for the "Artist of the Year" award. Rosenthal, who has held prominent curatorial positions at the Hayward Gallery in London, the Haus der Kunst in Munich, and served as the head of the Gropius Bau in Berlin, has been instrumental in Devasher's rise in the art world.
Devasher's art also explores the intersections of science, art, and philosophy. She collaborates with researchers, amateur astronomers, and global scientific institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) and CERN.
Currently residing in Delhi, Devasher's most recent work, "One Hundred Thousand Suns" (2023), is on display at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco until March 24. The film is also part of the exhibition "Punya 2.0" at the Kunsthalle Bern until April 14.
With her unique approach to art and her collaborative spirit, Devasher continues to push the boundaries of what art can be, making her a worthy recipient of the "Artist of the Year" award.
Rohini Devasher's work, which explores the intersections of science and art, has garnered attention in both the space-and-astronomy community and the fashion-and-beauty world. Her piece, "One Hundred Thousand Suns", uses technology to blend NASA images with her own data collections, showcasing a new headway in art in the face of advancements in science and technology. As entertainment for art enthusiasts, her immersive film is on display in both San Francisco and Bern, highlighting the global reach and impact of her work.
