W A S W O X. W A S W O
(b. 1953, Wisconsin, U.S.A)
Waswo X. Waswo studied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Milwaukee Center for Photography, and Studio Marangoni, The Centre for Contemporary Photography in Florence, Italy. His books include India Poems: The Photographs, published by Gallerie Publishers in 2006, Men of Rajasthan, published by Serindia Contemporary in 2011 (hardcover 2014), Photowallah published by Tasveer, India, in 2016, Gauri Dancers, Mapin, 2019 and Karkhana: A Studio in Rajasthan, Mapin, 2022. Waswo's photographic self-portraiture and miniature paintings have been a tactic of mild humour employed to signal the self-awareness of his practice. He has had a long history of collaborating with traditional miniature painters where he lives, in Udaipur, Rajasthan. He currently collaborates with Dalpat and Banti Jingar, qnd Shankar Kumawat and Chirag Kumawat.
Bibliography
Karkhana: A Studio in Rajasthan, Mapin, 2022
Gauri Dancers, Mapin, 2019
Photowallah, Tasveer, preface by Christopher Pinney, 2016 (hardcover)
The Artful Life of R. Vijay, (a book about our collaborations) written by Annapurna Garimella with a preface by Kavita Singh, Serindia Contemporary, 2015 (hardcover)
Men of Rajasthan, Serindia Contemporary, 2011 (paperback), 2014 (hardcover)
A Three Megapixel Journal, Lulu, 2007
India Poems: The Photographs, Gallerie Publishers, 2006
India Poems, Seventy-five Poems by The American Photographer,Rooftop Vistas, 2004
Waswo in Anthologies:
Third Eye Photography: and Ways of Seeing, edited by Alka Pande, Speaking Tiger, 2019
Lessons from Hell, Printing and Punishment in India, Christopher Pinney, Marg, 2018
Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice, edited by Aileen Blaney and Chinar Shah, Bloomsbury Academic, 2018
Pages of a Mind: Raja Ravi Varma Life And Expressions, Vaishnavi Ramanathan, Piramal Art Foundation, 2016
Positions, Asia Critique, Vol 24:2, edited by Tani Barlow, Duke University Press, 2016
Feeling Photography, edited by Elspeth H. Brown and Thy Phu, Duke University Press, 2014
Mein Schwules Auge #11, Rinaldo Hopf and Axel Schock, Konkursbuch Berlin, 2014
Positions, Asia Critique, Vol 20:1, edited by Tani Barlow, Duke University Press, 2012
Mein Schwules Auge #7, Rinaldo Hopf and Axel Schock, Konkursbuch Berlin, 2010
Leela, An Erotic Play of Verse and Art, Alka Pande, Harper-Collins India, 2009
Mein Schwules Auge #6, Rinaldo Hopf and Axel Schock, Konkursbuch Berlin, 2009
CV
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
We are Always Working, Latitude 28, August, 2020
Bodies of Work, Gallery OED, Kochi, January, 2020
Gauri Dancers, Amnavad ni Gufa, Ahmedabad, November, 2019
Like a Leaf in Autumn, Gallery Espace, October, 2019
Ateliér v Rádžastáne, Central European House of Photography, Bratislava, 2017
Photowallah, Tasveer/Tarq, Mumbai, 2017
Photowallah, Tasveer/National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, 2016
Photowallah, Tasveer/Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2016
Waswo X. Waswo: Photographs, Gallerie Minsky, Paris, 2015
Confessions of an Evil Orientalist, Obscura Festival of Photography, Penang, 2015
A Day in the Country, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore, 2015
Sleeping through the Museum, Official collateral project of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, 2014-15
retro-spective, Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata, 2014
Hanuman - New Myths, Serindia Gallery Annex, Bangkok, 2014
Sleeping through the Museum, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 2014
s-e-p-a-r-a-t-i-o-n-s, solo booth sponsored by Gallery Espace, India Art Fair, 2014
Tinted by Tradition, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore, 2013
May be Removed at Will: Alliance Française de Delhi, 2012
Confessions of an Evil Orientalist: Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India, 2011
Tinted by Tradition: Waswo X. Waswo, City Palace Museum, Udaipur, India, 2011
Men of Rajasthan: Serindia Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand, 2011
New Myths: Bombay Art Gallery, Bombay, India, 2010
A Studio in Rajasthan: Coromandel Art Gallery, Pondicherry, India, 2010
A Studio in Rajasthan: Galleria Joyce, Genoa, Italy, 2009
A Studio in Rajasthan: Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, India, 2009
A Studio in Rajasthan: Kashi Art Gallery, Cochin, India, 2008
India Poems: The Photographs of Waswo X. Waswo: Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, U.S.A., 2007
India Poems: The Photographs: travelling exhibition at Alliance Française de Bangalore, Alliance Française de Goa, and Alliance Française de Colombo, 2003
Selected Group Exhibitions:
Cartography of Narratives, Latitude 28 at Bikaner House, April, 2019
BODY, Shanghumugham Art Museum, February, 2019
Babur ki Gai, Latitude 28, New Delhi, October, 2018
Laughing in the Vernacular, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2017
50/50 - Photography to Digital Imaging and Back, Birla Academy of Arts and Culture, Kolkata, 2017
Culture of the Streets, Aicon Gallery, New York, 2017
Morphology of the Archive, Museum of Goa (MOG), Goa, 2016
Waswo X. Waswo / Pietro Pietromarchi, Gallery Minsky, Paris, 2015
Excavation / Eruption, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2015
My Sweet Lord, Gallery 1x1, Dubai, 2014
All You Need is Love, Mori Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, 2013
When High and Low Art Meet: A Tribute to Ravi Varma, (curated by Rupika Chawla), Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, 2013
Convergence: New Art from India and the Diaspora, William Benton Museum of Art, USA, 2013
Tagore Lost and Found, Art Konsult, New Delhi, 2013
Intimately, H Gallery, Bangkok, 2012
pREpellers, Gallery Art & Soul, Chennai, 2012
Staging Selves: Power, Performativity and Portraiture, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 2011
Fabular Bodies: New Narratives in the Art of the Miniature, (curated by Gayatri Sinha) Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, India, 2011
Darmstadt Tage der Fotografie Invitational Exhibition, Darmstadt, Germany, 2010
Lo Real Maravilloso (Marvelous Reality), New Delhi, India, 2009
The Monsoon Show, Gallery Nvya, New Delhi, India, 2009
The Calendar Art Project, Apparao Gallery, New Delhi, India, 2008