Thursday, August 7, 2025
Doors at 5:30 pm. Artist talk at 6 pm.
25 Dederick Street, Kingston, NY
On Thursday, August 7, we welcome Spandita Malik to “Meet the Artist” night at CPW. In her talk, Malik will share her ongoing photographic projects Nā́rī, Vadhu, and Jāḷī, which explore the intersections of gender, power, and visual representation in India. Working collaboratively with women across rural regions, Malik combines photography with such traditional textile practices as embroidery to create expanded documentary works that resist dominant narratives of victimhood and pity often imposed on women from the Global South. Her practice foregrounds feminist and decolonial strategies that challenge the authority of the camera and embrace shared authorship. The results offer a critical and intimate reimagining of how stories of resilience, agency, and trauma are told through both image and material. This event will be live-streamed on CPW’s YouTube page at 6pm.
Join us every Thursday evening at CPW, when we host illuminating talks with local and visiting artists. “Meet the Artist” allows the public to get to know new work, to hear about artistic processes, and to meet friends and other local artists. The evening takes place at CPW’s gallery at 25 Dederick Street in Kingston, NY. It is free and open to the public. Coffee, tea, and snacks are served. “Meet the Artist” is made possible by a generous grant from the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation.
Spandita Malik (b. 1995) is an Indian visual artist based in New York City whose work spans photography, textiles, and social engagement. Through collaboration with women across India and the use of traditional embroidery practices, Malik explores gender, authority, and representation. Her process-based interventions challenge the dominant power structures of documentary photography by creating space for shared authorship and storytelling.
Her work has been shown at institutions including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, 21c Museum Hotels, Robert Mann Gallery, Jane Lombard Gallery, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. Malik’s practice has been recognized with awards such as the V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography, Google’s Creator Labs Photo Fund, Women Photograph Project Grant, The 30: New and Emerging Photographers Award, En Foco Photography Fellowship, and the Firecracker Photographic Grant.
She has completed residencies at Light Work, LMCC Workspace, Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York, CPW, Charlotte Street Foundation, and the PES Feminist Incubator. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Times (UK), British Journal of Photography, Courrier International, Vogue India, Marie Claire Korea, and more.
She received her MFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design in 2019 and is currently an artist-in-residence at Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center.
Images © Spandita Malik