Artist and writer Shubigi Rao’s interests include archaeology, neuroscience, libraries, archival systems, histories and lies, literature and violence, ecologies, and natural history. Her current texts, video’s, photographs and artworks look at multiple historical and contemporary crises to plot cascading effects – from the celebration of scientific ignorance as a cultural right, to the ascendancy of certain language forms dovetailing with cultural exports as ‘softer’ imperial expansionism. These flashpoints are perspectival shifts to examining contemporary crises of displacement, whether of people, languages, cultures, or species. It also addresses a key argument in her current research – that current geo-politics is invariably influenced by language, cultural shifts and destruction in a proportion often underplayed in history.
Her current decade-long film, book, and art project, Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book, is about the history of book destruction. The first Pulp book was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize (creative non-fiction) 2018. The first portion of the project, Written in the Margins, won the APB Signature Prize 2018 Juror’s Choice Award. Rao has also been featured at international biennials and festivals such as the March Meets 2019 as part of the 14th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2019), 4th Kochi Biennale, India (2018), 10th Taipei Biennial, Taiwan (2016); 3rd Pune Biennale, India (2017); Singapour Mon Amour, Paris, France (2015); Digital Arts Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark (2013); and the 2nd Singapore Biennale (2008). She is currently curator for the upcoming Kochi-Muziris Biennale , India (2020).