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Chatai (2021) by Janhavi Khemka

Chicago, IL

janhavikhemka.com

August 27, 2025 – November 5, 2025

Janhavi Khemka (she/her) is a Chicago-based artist originally from Varanasi, India. Her work explores acoustics through woodcut printmaking and experimental installations that combine animation, sound, performance, and vibratory materials. 

At nine months old, Khemka contracted typhoid, which led to her loss of hearing. Growing up, her mother encouraged her to speak in Hindi, which emphasized her reliance on lip reading in a hearing-speaking world. After losing her mother to cancer, Khemka sought ways to imprint her experience of the "real" world, activating her sensory capacities through touch, taste, smell, and visual perception. In her immersive works, which blend two- and three-dimensional elements, Khemka invites viewers to examine their own assumptions and aural subjectivities within the realm of the strange and otherness.  

Khemka plans to explore her interior and exterior landscapes using James Castle’s unconventional materials and techniques. She is eager to learn more about his life and artistic practice as a d/Deaf person and will use her work to honor his legacy.