Navjot Altaf (b. 1949) is a transcultural artist, whose inventive multi-media work reflects political and aesthetic concerns that have been informed by dialogical ways of working. Her practice is located in the metaphor of flow – across materiality and theory, across place and people, and in finding a transdisciplinary perspective where inquiry and self-inquiry intersect.
She has also been engaged with Indigenous artists and the communities in Chhattisgarh since 1997 and is one of the founder members of DIAA - ‘Dialogue - interactive Artists Association’ in Kondagaon, Chhattisgarh and has organized Seminars, Samvad 2007-2026. Her work there has attempted to bring attention to the social and ecological crises in the region through their own voices and narratives.
Her selected exhibitions and participations in and outside India include- ‘Waste Archives as Landscape’, Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Mumbai, India (2026), ‘Navjot Altaf: Pattern’, Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai (2022) ‘Samakalik: Earth Democracy and Women Liberation’, PAV Parco Arte Vivente,Turin, Italy, ‘Open Borders’ Curitiba Biennial, Brazil (2019) ‘The Earth's Heart Torn Out’ Navjot Altaf: A life in Art, A retrospective, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India (2018-19), ‘From the Desert-Ecologies on the Edge’, Yinchuan Biennale, China (2018) ‘Stretched Terrains - Interpositions: Replaying the Inventory’, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India (2017) ‘Why Not Ask Again’, 11th Shanghai Biennale (2016).
The artist lives between Mumbai and Bastar.
