ABOUT BBB FOUNDER & PROJECT COORDINATOR DR. UJJAL SARKAR:
Dr. Ujjal Sarkar (b. 1979, Howrah, India) earned his B.Sc in Chemistry from Presidency College, Kolkata, in 2000 and his M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT, Kharagpur, India, in 2002. In 2009 he earned a Ph.D. at the Prof. Kent S. Gates laboratory in anticancer drug design and the mechanisms of drug action and metabolism at the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA. He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T) as a postdoctoral associate, was promoted to Research Scientist, and worked with Professor Steven R. Tannenbaum in the department of Biological Engineering. While at MIT, Dr. Sarkar collaborated with scientists, engineers, and US government officials to develop the first multi-human-organs-on chip technology, funded by the US Defense of Project Agency. Dr. Sarkar then joined AstraZeneca to drive innovative Oncology drug discovery, and he was acknowledged with the Global Oncology Innovation and Achievement Award by IMED in 2018. He received several awards, including the top Young Investigator Award on Human organ on Chip, The American Chemical Society, National Meeting and Exposition, Boston, Innovation in Biotechnology Award as Co-author; American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists sponsored by Genentech, Donald K. Anderson Recognition as “Outstanding Teacher” the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is currently heading translational drug biotransformation function at a Cambridge-based premier Neuroscience company, Cerevel Therapeutics. He has been an organizing committee member of Biotransformation Science–Applied Pharmaceutical Analysis-India Chapter since 2017. He has been a member of several scientific associations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Chemists Foundation (AIC), American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Toxicology, International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX), American Chemical Society (ACS). Dr. Sarkar initiated a Global American Chemical Society-TOXI Chapter in India in 2022 and brought together partners from industry and government to forge US-India collaboration in chemical toxicology, water, food, drug safety, and related topics.
ABOUT TODD BARTEL, LEAD CURATOR, INTERNATIONAL CALL:
Todd Bartel founded the Thompson Gallery at The Cambridge School of Weston (CSW), in 2007—a teaching gallery dedicated to thematic inquiry, offering three differing vantages of the selected topic throughout the school year. Bartel has curated 50 exhibitions since the gallery’s opening and has recently been working with museum collections. In November of 2021, the artist-curator selected work for a small exhibition at Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN, showcasing the museum’s uncollages which were included in their Currents exhibition. He has also worked with museum collections at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans, LO), the Art Complex Museum (Duxbury, MA), and the Henry Sheldon Museum (Middlebury, VT). He has published six articles on his “uncollage” concept in Kolaj magazine, including Defining Uncollage (Kolaj #25), Before It’s An Uncollage (Kolaj #26), Uncollage In Photography and Filmography (Kolaj #27), Collection Is Cohesion (Kolaj #28), The Third Thing is Immaterial (Kolaj # 34), and released in April ’22, Currents—Uncollage Premieres at the KMA (Kolaj #35). Bartel teaches drawing, painting, collage, and conceptual art at CSW, where he has taught for 24 years.
ABOUT DANIELA ESPONDA, CO-CURATOR, INTERNATIONAL CALL:
Daniela Esponda (b. 1985, Mexico City, Mexico) earned a BA in Industrial Design at Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico, in 2009, an MS in Biomimicry at Arizona State University, USA, in 2015, and a Professional Certificate in Biomimicry from Biomimicry 3.8 Institute in 2015. Esponda is a technology innovator, concentrating on the development of nature-inspired design. She is a biomimetic industrial designer with 13 years of experience in product design and development, biophilia, and green businesses. Esponda holds the position of Functional Leadership in the Biomimicry Mex network, based in Mexico City, and is a founding member of the “Biome,” a collaborative group of individuals from diverse backgrounds that initiate projects where art, science, design, and nature meet. Esponda is the Founder of Nature Design Lab—a firm focused on developing sustainable, innovative technologies that read nature and emulate organisms, combining art, design, and science. Esponda has acquired several patents and trademarks for her developed technologies. She has earned international recognition for her creative and innovative biomimetic solutions. Esponda was a finalist in the Biodesign spring challenge in collaboration with Google with the project Micromining in 2021. She was awarded second place in The Biomimicry Launchpad with the project BioThermoSmart in 2018. She was a finalist in the green business competition Cleantech Challenge Mexico in 2012 with the project Yubarta. Esponda was awarded the Haechi Prize bronze medal for the International Olympic design in Seoul, Korea, with the Yubarta project in 2009. In 2008 she was awarded first place in the Green Shelter Facility competition from Iberoamericana University. She has facilitated conferences and workshops on the Science of Biomimicry and is currently a professor of Biomimetic Sciences at the Faculty of Sciences of the UNAM in Mexico.
ABOUT TERI HENDERSON, CO-CURATOR, INTERNATIONAL CALL:
Teri Henderson (b. Fort Worth, TX, 1990) is a Baltimore-based independent curator, the Arts and Culture Editor of Baltimore Beat, and the author of Black Collagists: The Book. Henderson holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Texas Christian University. She formerly held a curatorial internship at Ghost Gallery in Seattle, Washington. Henderson previously served as the Art Law Clinic Director for Maryland Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts and is currently on their Board of Directors. Her written work has been seen in: BmoreArt, All SHE Makes, Artforum, Justsmile Magazine, Kinfolk Travel, and the St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture.
ABOUT TALIN MEGHERIAN, CO-CURATOR, INTERNATIONAL CALL
Talin Megherian (b. 1962, Queens, New York, USA) studied painting at The School of Visual Arts NY and received her BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1985. She also studied painting in Rome at RISD’s European Honors Program from 1984-85. She received Spark Grant from Creative Armenia in 2019 and a Pennsylvania Council On The Arts Fellowship in 1991. Megherian was chosen “Artist to Watch in 1992” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 1992, she received the Gloria Fitzgibbons Award from the Greater Pittsburgh Commission for Women. She has exhibited her work on the east and west coast, in Rome and Scotland. Talin studied Italian Renaissance painting firsthand, and her work incorporates her Italian master’s influences while also borrowing imagery from diverse sources of Armenian art, Surrealism, and religious iconography. Talin’s visual vocabulary weaves recognized symbols with everyday objects to explore issues of identity, empowerment, and rebirth using additive and subtractive painting techniques that imply a collage format. Her most current work gives voice to the history of the Armenian Genocide while also celebrating her heritage and its rich traditions. Talin resides in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she teaches art and organizes student art exhibitions at the Atrium School.
ABOUT PRADIP MAITRA, CURATOR, INDIA CALL FOR ART:
Pradip Maitra (b. 1959 West Bengal, India) is an eminent artist who completed his BFA from the Indian College of Art in 1984. Maitra is a freelance artist, living solely from producing and selling his watercolor paintings. His solo exhibitions include the Seagull Foundation for the Arts at Birla Academy, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Calcutta, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Gallery 42, New Delhi, and Nehru Centre, Mumbai, and many more. His work was included in Chariot of Civilization at the Birla Academy of art and culture, Kolkata. He participated in the Annual Exhibition and the All India Art Exhibition, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, (M.P), organized by the Society of Children Welfare. His work has been exhibited in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangkok, and Hong Kong. He pursued his career as an external examiner at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and Khairagarh University, MP. He has worked as an art director in a Bengali feature film. His paintings have been auctioned in Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, and London (Bonham). Sotheby’s. His paintings are in many museum collections, including the Museum of Bengal Art, Kolkata, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore Museum, Governor House, Orissa, Lancashire University, and many Private Collections in Germany, France, and the United States.
ABOUT SOMENATH MAITY, CURATOR, INDIA CALL FOR ART:
Somenath Maity (b. 1960 Darua, Contai, Midnapur east, West Bengal, India) received his 5-year Diploma College of Visual Arts, Kolkata, under the guidance of Shuvaprasanna. He received a 5-year diploma from the Indian College of Arts and Crafts 1980-85. He received the B.P. Poddar Memorial Scholarship from College of Visual Arts, Calcutta, 1984-85, and was awarded a Research Grant from Lalitkala Akademy, New Delhi 1993-4. In 2002 he received the IFACS vest Award, New Delhi, and a Birla Academy Award, and he received Senior Fellowship honors from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India 2003-4. He attended Workshop Dresden-Calcutta Artist at Arts Acre organized by Max Mueller Bhavan, the Terracotta workshop at Barn Gallery, U.K., the WOODCUT Workshop conducted by Richard Hards, organized by U.S. IS. and Arts Acre, the Graphic Workshop organized by Paula De Prima, organized by Alliance Franchise & Arts Acre, the Luxor International Artist symposium, and the Jaipur international artist symposium, the Portfolio, Dream and Reality, “Shuttle” Intaglio prints and poems by Dresden-Calcutta Artist and poets. Maity has had more than 42 solo exhibitions from 1986-2016, including Gallery Sanskrity (Kolkata), Visual Art Gallery (Kolkata), India Habitat Center, Lalit Kala Akademy (New Delhi), Leela Palace (Bangalore), Ueno Royal Museum (Tokyo, Japan), Tao Art Gallery (Mum-bai), LASALLE-SIA College of Arts (Singapore), 2002 at Barn Gallery (Henley, U.K.) and in New York, London, Stokhome, and Stuttgart. His work has been included in the Participants National Art Exhibition of Lalitkala Akademy from 1984-1994 and the II Bharat Bhavan Biennale, Bhopal, MP. His work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi), Lalitkala Akademy (New Delhi), N.C.E.R.T (New Delhi), Fukuoka Museum (Japan), Hindustan Lever (Mumbai), Tata Tea (Calcutta) and Munner Gujrat Heavy Chemicals, B.M Birla Science Center, Birla Academy, Taj Hotels, Hilton Hotel and numerous private collections in India and Abroad.
ABOUT NATASHA NARAIN, CURATOR, AUSTRALIA CALL FOR ART:
As an Indian Australian artist, scholar, and educator, Natasha Narain (b. 1970, Wellington, India) expresses her profound gratitude to the Eastern Maar and Wadawurrung People, who are the traditional custodians of Lorne, and to the Turrbal and Yuggera peoples of Meanjin-Brisbane, where Natasha lives. She respects their Elders, past, present, and emerging, and views her curatorial role as a form of nurturing. Natasha serves with a sense of community by opening spaces for conversations that value deep connections, intergenerational and personal experiences, storytelling, ecology, and sustainable ways of creating and living. Natasha looks towards placemaking and non-traditional presentations, focusing on diverse entry points and interpretations and a sense of home for both the audience and the artists. Natasha emphasizes the significance of keeping artworks active via physical exhibitions that engage the audience and give first-hand access. Natasha also invites new works to create a robust body of interconnected old and new works in conversation, which differs from the conventional collection and removal of access to artworks. Natasha deploys ingenious methods to maintain the portability and movement of works across geo-political and cultural boundaries. Her curatorial ethos extends to transdisciplinary solutions addressing ecology, cultural continuation, and multi-modal storytelling. Natasha welcomes the amalgamation of methods and materials, the handmade with the digital and playing with the scale, to invite discussion and co-learning. Natasha aspires to deliver intellectual and creative experiences in urban and regional settings by bringing high-quality art of international standard to local communities. She hopes to nurture the cultural landscape by supporting her local and transnational peers and creating a welcoming space for all genders, ages, and ethnicities. Natasha hopes that the growth of the mind and heart is imminent in such a poly-cultural environment. She deeply appreciates the trust the founder, curators, artists, organizers, friends, and family have placed in her and thanks the Lorne Community Connect for their faith in hosting the Lorne iteration of Unconnected Yet.
ABOUT MEAGHAN SHELTON, CURATOR, AUSTRALIA CALL FOR ART:
Meaghan Shelton’s (b. 1966. Wonthaggi, Victoria. Australia) curatorial debut, Distant Shores for the Eumundi Museum 2001, Queensland, invited recent migrants to Australia to present a precious object from their homeland. The objects acted as catalysts for sharing the stories of participants’ relocation to contemporary Australia. By invitation in 2019, Meaghan curated Rites of Passage for the Gympie Regional Gallery in the Main Gallery. The project, funded by the Gympie Regional Council, presented works evolving from a personal concern or inquiry to moving through the stages of separation, transition, reintegration, and transformation. Showcasing ten artists of diverse disciplines, career stages, national locations, genders, and ages for the investigative nature of their respective practices. In 2022, Meaghan assisted with the first Easter Photographic Exhibition, Lorne Community Connect. She was then invited to curate Lorne for all Seasons at LCC in 2023. Meaghan is the guest curator for Stilling Time, Sensing Place the first Easter Photographic Awards Exhibition to be launched in 2024. She will assist in creating funds to support artists and LCC’s vision further. Meaghan Shelton is co-curator of the Lorne iteration of Unconnected Yet, continuing her passion for connecting community through creative practices.