Divya Mehra facts for kids

Divya Mehra is a talented Canadian artist born in 1981 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is known for her amazing and thought-provoking art. Divya Mehra won the Wanda Koop Research Fund in 2019. In 2022, she received the prestigious Sobey Art Award, which is a big honor given each year by the National Gallery of Canada.

Early Life and Learning

Divya Mehra grew up in Winnipeg, Canada. She was the second youngest of four children. She studied Visual Arts at the University of Manitoba School of Art. She earned her first degree there in 2005. Later, she went to Columbia University School of the Arts in New York City. She completed her advanced degree in Visual Arts in 2008.

What Kind of Art Does She Make?

Divya Mehra creates art in many different ways. She makes sculptures, drawings, and even videos. She also creates installations, which are like art experiences you can walk through. Divya often uses humor in her art. This helps people connect with her work easily.

She combines her research with popular culture. This includes things like comics and social media. She also shares her experiences as an artist with an Indian diaspora background. This means her family came from India but she grew up in Canada. Her art is meant to make people think, but also to make them smile.

Cool Art Projects

Divya Mehra is well-known for her art that uses text. One of her first text-based pieces was Currently Fashionable. She made it in 2009. This work was part of her exhibition called You have to tell them, I'm not a Racist. It was first shown in 2012 in St. Boniface, Manitoba. It was shown again in 2017 in Toronto. Her text artworks appear in English, Hindi, and French.

Art on MTV

In 2012, Divya Mehra was one of ten artists chosen by MTV, MoMA PS1, and Creative Time. They asked her to create new versions of Art Breaks. This was a video series on MTV in the 1980s. Famous artists like Keith Haring and Andy Warhol showed their videos on it. Divya Mehra's video was featured in the 2012 Art Breaks series.

Magazine Covers and TV Shows

In 2018, Divya Mehra designed the cover for Canadian Art Magazine. It was for their "Dirty Words" issue. For the cover, she recreated the set of a popular Canadian comedy show. It was called You Can't Do That On Television. She imagined a moment from the show where a character gets covered in slime. This happens when they say "I don't know." That same magazine issue also featured her art. It explored what it's like to be from South Asia but live in other parts of the world.

Divya Mehra was also featured in a CBC Arts TV show in 2018. The show was called In The Making. It followed Canadian artists as they created their work. In one episode, Divya traveled to India. She started working on a new inflatable art piece there. It was a bouncy castle shaped like the Taj Mahal! This bouncy castle was shown for the first time in 2018. The National Gallery of Canada bought this amazing artwork.

In 2023, Divya Mehra created two more inflatable artworks. These were for a big art event in Toronto called Nuit Blanche.

Where Her Art Has Been Shown

Divya Mehra's art has been displayed in many important places. Some of these include:

• Banff Centre
• Art Gallery of Ontario
• Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia
• Artspeak

Awards and Honors

Divya Mehra has received several awards for her art.

• Manitoba Arts Council, Major Arts Grant, 2014
• Glenfiddich Art Award, shortlist, 2015
• Sobey Art Award, shortlist for the Prairies and the North region, 2017
• Wanda Koop Research Fund, 2020
• Sobey Art Award, winner, 2022