About this Event
This event brings together two artists, Shouma Banerjee Kak and Jin Mei, who have each returned to art making in their fifties, after decades-long absence. Working autonomously and persistently, both have arrived at a practice of repetition, certitude, and joy.
The conversation between the two artists is mediated by their daughters: Chang Yuchen, herself an artist, and Amba Kak, a critical voice on technology and its discontents. Together, they will draw out what it means to return to something, to make steadily, to find in repetition not monotony but a kind of freedom.
Artist Bios:
Shouma Banerjee Kak was born in Calcutta in 1963 and trained at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. After graduation, she practiced as a graphic designer and illustrator across television and print. She has exhibited widely — a solo show at the Academy of Fine Arts & Literature, New Delhi (1989), another at Prakriti, Bangalore (1999), and a group show at Art Today, New Delhi (2001). After a long hiatus, she resumed work with a distinctive style of simple, repetitive strokes — a practice she likens to kantha, the needlework of Bengal, transposed onto paper. These works will be part of an exhibition in June at the Bikaner House in New Delhi.
Jin Mei was born in Shanxi, China in 1961 and attended the School of Art at Shanxi University in 1982. After graduation, she worked as an art editor for a magazine. In 1993, she opened her own business, Jin Mei Flower Shop, through which she supported the artistic practice of her family. In 2011, Jin Mei picked up a paintbrush again at the age of fifty. The book of her drawings, titled 晋美: jm was published by her daughter Chang Yuchen in 2024 under the imprint How Many Books. The same year she had her first solo exhibition at Kiang Malingue, Hong Kong, and launched a fashion collaboration with Home Society, Shanghai. In 2025, Jin Mei participated in a residency at Anaya, Jinshanling. In 2026, she presented her works at artbook@MoMA PS1 and Gern en Regalia.
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Image:
Event Image: Left: Drawing by Jin Mei (10x15 cm, 2026,crayon on paper); Right: Drawing by Shouma (12 x 18 inches (or 30.45 x 45.72 cm), 2025, watercolor on paper)
Shouma Banerjee Kak bio image: Photo by Sanjay Kak.
Jin Mei bio image: Jin Mei's talk at MoMA PS1 in March 2026. Photo by Chang Qing.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
initial research, 41 Wooster Street, New York, United States
USD 0.00
