Al-Qawi Nanavati

Al-Qawi Nanavati is an artist from Mumbai, India, currently residing in Iowa City. Her work is influenced by meditation, repetition, and the aftermath of loss. She writes letters to her late mother, Mumtaz, to interact with her and continue conversations that were left abruptly. Crafting these letters resulted in Al-Qawi inventing a secret script that she has been embedding with watercolours onto archival and self-made paper. Her practice is a witness to her inquisitive mind of understanding materials like silver gelatin photographs and repurposed pieces of her late mother’s clothing while weaving and crocheting them together. Her diverse processes aim to prolong the intimacy she shared with her mother while healing from the grief of her absence, addressing the universality of loss, longing, loneliness, and the permanence of that void.

Her works have been exhibited at PS1 Gallery, Iowa City, USA (2023; Voices Gallery, Dubuque, Iowa, USA (2023); CSMVS Museum, Mumbai, India (2022); Latitude 28, New Delhi, India (2020); Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, USA (2018); Union Arts Club, Chicago, USA (2017); Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, USA (2016), among others.

The artist earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017, focusing on printmaking and painting. Having received the Iowa Arts Fellowship and a full scholarship for 2022-25, Al-Qawi is pursuing an MFA in Printmaking at the University of Iowa, with a minor in Papermaking at the University of Iowa Center for the Book Certificate.

She has also co-founded Young Art Support, an online platform in India that promotes, exhibits, and sells the work of young artists free of commission. The platform provides an opportunity for emerging curators and artists to participate in residency programs in collaboration with Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Carpe Arte, and Shaleen Wadhwana, and is currently in its third year of operations.