Faculty
Priya Kambli received her BFA at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and an MFA from the University of Houston. She is currently Professor of Art at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
Kambli’s work inadvertently examines the question asked by her son Kavi at age three; did she belong to two different worlds, since she spoke two different languages? The essence of his question continues to be a driving force in her art making. In her work, Kambli has always strived to understand the formation and erasure of identity that is an inevitable part of the migrant experience, exploring the resulting fragmentation of family, identity, and culture.
Kambli’s artwork has been well received, having been exhibited, published, collected and reviewed in the national and international photographic community. She is the recipient of two 2021 inaugural production grants, the Aperture and Google Creator Labs Photo Fund and The Magenta Foundation’s Un-Stuck grant. The National Portrait Gallery in London included an image from her series Buttons for Eyes in their annual Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition 2021. The Missouri Arts Council recognized me as the artist of the year with their Missouri Arts Award for Individual Artist 2021, the state’s highest honor in the arts. The success of Kambli’s work underlines the fact that she is engaged in an important dialogue, and reinforces her intent to make work driven by a growing awareness of the importance of many voices from diverse perspectives and the political relevance of our private struggles.
All images: ©Priya Kambli