Sharmistha Ray

Artist, Brainstormer, Business leader, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Connector, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Idea generator, World traveler

I am a visual artist with numerous solo and group shows around the world under my belt. The recipient of notable awards including the Joan Mitchell MFA Grant (2005), TED Fellowship (2009) and Montblanc Young Artist World Patronage (2012), I have worked on special art projects with leading institutions and corporates like Berklee College of Music, The Godrej Group, JSW and Mahindra & Mahindra. I am also an occasional arts writer and founder of the Bellevue Salons, a mobile cross-cultural salon that aims to augment participatory modes of engagement with contemporary culture in surprising new ways. Since the Salons inception in 2014, I have collaborated with a diverse plethora of cultural practitioners making original and experimental work with a focus on social justice in the field of gender and sexuality. I seek to construct multiple visual representations of queer consciousness, drawing upon my Buddhist practice and the study of unified Vedic consciousness, as well as the intersectional lived experiences of being queer, gender-fluid and the product of multiple geographies. I have been featured in, written for or interviewed by the Indian editions of Vogue, Elle, Femina, Grazia, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes Life and major daily publications such as Times of India, Mint, DNA, Midday, Hindustan Times and others. Reviews of my work have appeared in Art India and Take on Art magazines. Currently, I am working out of a studio at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York City. www.sharmistharay.com

Art. Gender and sexuality. Consciousness studies. Buddhism. Intersectional identity politics with regards to race, sexuality and immigration. Traveling with no agenda. LGBTQIA/women's rights. The state of humanity. Creating music lists. Reading as much as possible. I have recently developed interest in science fiction and where art meets technology in the future.

An integrated notion of queer consciousness.

Art & Art History, Art Director, Art, Design, Communication, Artist, Arts Education, Arts Management, Blogger, Creative Business, Curator, writer

Thanks to TED, I embarked on the most transformative journey of understanding the world we live in today through the eyes of radical innovators. It's been a humbling experience.

Hitting the dance floor, getting lost, living in the moment.