Envisioning the Hindu Divine: Expanding Darshan and Manjari Sharma features forty historical objects from India and Southeast Asia and nine photographs by global contemporary artist Manjari Sharma. Bringing together the striking work of the rising contemporary art star with the historic collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art, this exhibition showcases nine of the most significant deities of the Hindu pantheon and their contemporary relevance in art and faith. These works serve as a gateway to the concept of darshan-seeing and being seen by the divine, a profound spiritual exchange of glances experienced through consecrated images of gods. The vibrant, varied, and sometimes contradictory stories of these gods-as well as their familial relationships with each other-are shared through the works in this exhibition.

Contemporary artist Manjari Sharma makes work that is rooted in portraiture and addresses issues of identity, multiculturalism, and personal mythology. Beginning as a multiyear, crowdfunded project on Kickstarter, Sharma’s Darshan series of photographs aimed to recreate the experience of encountering the nine Hindu deities. An extraordinary aspect of Sharma’s work is her commitment to creating each scene without digital manipulation. All items visible in the images were present when photographed, not digitally added later.

Location: Cowden Gallery