Meet Madhurima Ganguly

We had the good fortune of connecting with Madhurima Ganguly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Madhurima, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
It is an inner call. I really don’t know why. I am good at it is not my reason. I feel like it is what I am supposed to do. It’s like breathing. You don’t question why you know it’s important to survive, to be alive you have to breathe. Like that I knew I have to create, make art.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an immigrant in this country (USA). Like any other individual I am trying my best to establish myself here. I have been practicing art as a professional for last 15 years but art came to my life when I was two and half year old. I never wanted to be anything else than an artist. I don’t think I am special or I am extraordinary in any capacity. I feel like I am very average and normal human being who is following her passion. However I feel that every body wants to be extra special, extraordinary. In that context me being normal or average is my strength and me being me is my strongest part too. Because there is no one else who is me.
I am most proud of my life and my career mostly because I have started it from scratch three times that is also in a different continent. I look forward to my daily life and each day brings so much opportunity and hope. I feel like being alive and being able to create is the biggest gift I have. I am very excited to be alive altogether.
I have obtained my BFA (2007) and my MFA(2009) from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India. Soon after my Masters within two years I got married and moved to USA, San Diego, California. It was a huge change, geographically, mentally and professionally. Back home in India I was very busy doing multiple jobs. I was an art instructor at the Birla group of schools, I was a gallery manager of now renowned international art gallery “Experimenter” and I used to work as an art director of a theater group call “Uhinee Kolkata.” But this move made me isolated and very alone. I kept on thinking that we will go back in few years and I will be able to continue that busy professional life again. That didn’t happen and eventually I started to create my community here in the USA. Slowly I got in to my practice and that sincerity reflected through my work. I started to enter in different group shows, wrote to several galleries to show my work and eventually it all started since 2013/14.
In this whole process I learned one very important lesson which is to never stop. If you keep working and put your self out there in the world universe will pave the path for you. You just have to keep working because you never know from where and when you get the break or a chance which may change your life.
Theme of my work is migration, fertility, female body, displacement, ecology and most importantly how these issues effect my mind my thoughts and how I struggle with these traumas. My work has a lot of texture and abstract elements which are the expression of my floating psyche and complex emotions. They are very hard to describe in words or structural forms. I want you to see my work and feel it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I will take him/her to the DIA (Detroit museum of arts), Ann Arbor downtown, Ann arbor art center, Some art galleries in Detroit, MOCAD. I am a big time foodie so I will definitely take my friend to eat in nice places in Ann Arbor, Detroit and Plymouth area. I would eat at Frita Batidos in Ann Arbor, Maize in Ypsilanti, Mink Detroit, Al Tayeb in Garden City, Yoons bakery in Ann Arbor, Ricewood BBQ food restaurant which was a food truck before, Cups and chai Canton for coffee and evening snacks, Neehees in Canton, for Indian chat(street food). I love the Matthaei botanical garden. A stroll there is very relaxing. I love Kensington metro farm too. Michigan specially south east Michigan is such a cool and vibrant place its hard to choose from. There is so much to look. So many great places to eat. All though if it is summer time I would definitely go to the beach. Lake Michigan, Mackinaw Island, Petosky and I love Traverse City. I will definitely take my friend there at least for a day or two.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My school teachers and my friends and family.

Website: www.madhurimaganguly.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madhurimagangulyart_/

Other: https://www.artsy.net/artist/madhurima-ganguly