Thirumalaisamy

WEBSITE(S)| Sindhu Thirumalaisamy

Sindhu Thirumalaisamy is an artist and filmmaker. Her films, installations, texts, and compositions engage everyday spaces and civic infrastructures (such as hospitals, parks, kitchens, temples, mosques, lakes, and roadsides) as sites of collective resistance and care

Thirumalaisamy trained as a filmmaker at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. She received an MFA in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. She is an alumna of the Whitney Independent Study Program, New York. Her practice has been supported by fellowships and residencies including the NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Film/Video, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Core Residency Program.

Thirumalaisamy’s work has been exhibited at venues including the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Locust Projects, EFA Project Space, Khoj International Artists’ Association, Artists’ Television Access, Union Docs, and the Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival, Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), Open City Documentary Festival, and BlackStar Film Festival. Her 2019 film, The Lake and The Lake, won the jury award for the Best Documentary at the 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Thirumalaisamy’s teaching draws from queer and feminist media practices. Her courses engage the technical and conceptual potential for filmmaking to support creative endeavors in diverse fields of work and study.

Research Areas

Film, Video, Sound, Installation

Education

Whitney Independent Study Program, New York

MFA, University of California, San Diego

Diploma, Video Production, Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology, Bangalore

Honors & Awards

Grantee, The Idea Fund (regranted from the Andy Warhol Foundation for The Visual Arts by DiverseWorks, Project Row Houses, and Aurora Picture Show), 2022

New York State Council for the Arts and New York Foundation for the Arts (NYSCA/NYFA) Fellowship in Film/Video, 2021

Fellow, Core Residency Program, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 2020–22

Jury Award, Best Documentary Film for The Lake and The Lake, 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2020

Emerging Filmmaker Award Nominee, Open City Documentary Festival, 2020

Best Short Documentary Award Nominee, BlackStar Film Festival, 2020

Fellow, The Flaherty Film Seminar: The Necessary Image, 2018

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