NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Brooklyn-based artist Chitra Ganesh has brought her artwork to New Brunswick, and her work will be on display in the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series Galleries at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library.

This gallery is open to students, as well as the public, and will be on display from September 1 to November 3.

Ganesh has been named the 2015-2016 Estelle Leibowitz Endowed Visiting Artist in Residence.

The Center for the Women in the Arts and Humanities will be holding a reception in honor of the artist on Tuesday November 3rd at 5 PM, and a free public lecture by Chitra herself will be held at 5:30 PM.

Nicole Ianuzelli, Manager of Programs and Exhibits for the Center of Women in the Arts and Humanities said 

“Chitra Ganesh was named the Estelle Lebowitz Endowed Visiting artist for this academic year because she is a respected contemporary woman artist who is widely recognized for her mixed-media, comic, and large-scale narrative works. Her artwork is of great interest to Rutgers students and the local community because she addresses feminist and queer narratives using mythology, literature, and popular culture.”

Ganesh’s works include drawings, mixed media, site specific, and text based works and references Hindu, Greek, and Buddhist mythology, as well as 19th Century European portraiture and fairytales.

According to her biography, Ganesh draws inspiration from history that is often left out of history books.

Along, with historical references she adds a modern touch such as the use of anime, Bollywood, and comic visuals.

Ganesh uses women as the main protagonists in her artwork, incorporating sexuality and heroism.

She asks those who view her art in her artist statement to “Seek and consider new narratives of sexuality and power.”

Chitra Ganesh was born in 1975, to Indian immigrant parents, and graduated from Brown with her Bachelors in literature and Art-Semiotics and received her Masters of Fine Arts from Columbia University.

She has had exhibits in the Museum of Modern Arts in San Diego, the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, and several museums internationally.

The Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence has given the New Brunswick community the opportunity to view art as well as attend lectures and classes from contemporary women artists since 1999.

Other women that were recent Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence prior to Chitra Ganesh were Grimanesa Amorós in 2014-2015, and Martha Wilson in 2013-2014.