MINNEAPOLIS.- The Minneapolis Institute of Arts presents the first major North American exhibition devoted to contemporary photography and video art in India. Opening October 26, “India: Public Places, Private Spaces” features more than one hundred works from twenty-eight artists exploring the lives of India’s people. The exhibition reveals the highly personal viewpoints found in this country of more than a billion people. This exhibition had its debut at the Newark Museum in New Jersey.

Each artist uses his or her medium to provide rich insights into the dynamics shaping the contemporary Indian psyche. The exhibition demonstrates the artistic vitality that has risen from extreme economic and political shifts, the influence of the media, and cultural traditions competing with globalization. Among the featured artists are internationally renowned photographers Raghu Rai, the late Raghubir Singh, and emerging talents Tejal Shah and Shilpa Gupta, who has been dubbed “the Damien Hirst of India.”

The artists investigate identity as a social construct, engage with issues of gender and sexuality, and explore the effects of population migration, among other themes. Bollywood blockbusters, rampant technology, and caste conflict make appearances in this eye-opening exhibition that will be on view at the MIA through January 18, 2009.

Artists represented also include Shahid Datawala, Anita Dube, Gauri Gill, Sunil Gupta, Subodh Gupta, Vijay and Samar Singh Jodha, Ranbir Kaleka, Jitish Kallat, Sonia Khurana, Shantanu Lodh, Anna Palakunnathu Matthew, Pushpamala N., Ram Rahman, Gigi Scaria, Vivan Sundaram, Surekha, Manish Swarup, Vivek Vilasini, and Rajesh Vora.

“India: Public Places, Private Spaces” is the culmination of several years of research and coordination by co-curators Gayatri Sinha, an independent curator and art critic in India, and Paul Sternberger, an associate professor of art history at Rutgers University, Newark. The curators also contributed to the exhibition catalogue, which includes essays by award-winning author Suketu Mehta and Barbara London, who is an associate curator of film and media at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.