Murari Jha Madhubani district, Bihar, India, b.1988
Murari Jha is a contemporary Indian visual, educator and performance artist whose practice spans painting, installation, and durational performance. Working across mediums and geographies, his work often engages questions of labour, migration, embodiment, and the politics of belonging. Jha approaches the body as both a site of resistance and memory, and his performances frequently foreground endurance, silence, repetition, and vulnerability as strategies for reclaiming agency and narrating lived experience.
Born in Bihar, Jha completed his BFA in Painting (2010) from Patna University and MFA in Painting (2012) from Dr B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra, graduating as a Gold Medallist in both courses. His artistic trajectory has since evolved into a multidisciplinary language shaped by the observation of social realities, personal displacement, and deep engagement with the idea of home.
Jha has presented his work widely through solo and group exhibitions, including Baggage from "The Longest March" at Nature Morte, New Delhi (2023) and participated in significant showcases such as Returning to Earth: A Kinder Search for Home at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (New Delhi, 2023) and Dhaka Art Summit (2023); The Sculpture Park at Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur (2024); Out of Turn at Bikaner House, New Delhi (2024); and NEW INTERIORS: The Deceived Self at State Art Gallery, Hyderabad (2025).
Durational performance practice forms a central pillar of his work, with landmark performances such as A Magician from "The Longest March" (KNMA, 2023), Samay Pahaad Ho Gaya Hai (Kochi, 2022), Far from My Home: Machaan (Goethe-Institut, 2020), Good Sleep (Unidee/Inlaks, Italy, 2017), and Dhaan (Theertha International Artist Collective, Sri Lanka, 2017). He has been an artist-in-residence with Samdani Art Foundation (Bangladesh), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (New Delhi), HH Art Spaces (Goa), Unidee/Inlaks (Italy), Theertha International Artist Collective (Sri Lanka), and 1Shanthiroad (Bangalore), among others. His projects have frequently been supported by collaborations that centre research-led, community-informed, and site-responsive artistic processes.
Jha currently lives and works in New Delhi.
Selected Artworks
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Baggage from 'The Longest March' at Nature Morte, New Delhi
Group Exhibitions
2025
'NEW INTERIORS: The Deceived Self’, State Art Gallery, Hyderabad organized by Gallery Dotwalk
2024
Out of Turn, Bikaner House, New Delhi organized by Modern Art Gallery
The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur
2023
Returning to Earth: A Kinder Search for Home, KNMA, New Delhi
Things Are Vanishing Before Us, Bikaner House, organized by Gallery Dotwalk
Returning to Earth: A Kinder Search for Home, Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh
2019
Democracy As Football, India Art Fair, New Delhi, organized by Italian Cultural Institute
2018
fondle/चिकट, Mumbai Art Room
2017
Contraband, Gallery Art Konsult, New Delhi
2016
Future Collaboration, Italian Culture Center, New Delhi
Antarvention,The Mithila Bhavan Akhara, Ayodhya organized by Clark House Initiative
2015
Men/e/pollution, NIV Art Center, New Delhi, organized by Shield Initiative
Body, Space & Structure, 1Shanthiroad, Bangalore
Untitled, Fusion Art Gallery, New Delhi
2014
Untitled, Lalit Kala Academy, Bihar
2013
Untitled, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi
Performances
2023
A Magician from ‘The Longest March’, KNMA, New Delhi
2022
समय पहाड हो गया है at Kochi Biennale, Dutch Warehouse, Kochi
Observation of Silence, Duration: 50 Minutes, Rishihood University, Haryana
2021
Observation of Silence, Duration: 20 Minutes, Humayunpur Village, New Delhi
2020
Far from My Home: Machaan, Goethe Institute/Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi
2019
Artist Unite, Red Fort, Delhi
2017
Good Sleep, Biella, Italy
Dhaan (Repetition of Paddy), Theertha International Artist Collective, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2016
Get Naked, HH Art Space, Goa
Udhaar (Borrow), Adil Shah Palace, Serendipity Art Festival, Goa
Carrying the History, Bodhgaya Biennale, Bihar
Bhumi, Mithila Bhavan Akhara, Ayodhya organized by Clark House Initiative
I Do Not Scream, Morni Hills Performance Art Biennale, Chandigarh
2015
Walking Up & Down, 1Shanthiroad, Bangalore
2014
Illicit Body, National School of Design, Bangalore
Minute of Poem, IGNCA, New Delhi
Understanding Kabira, Art Adda, Bangalore
Ek Minute Ka Maun, Kolkata International Performance Art Festival, Kolkata
Kanoon Ke Lambe Hath, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
2013
In Between, Crack International Camp, Kusthiya, Bangladesh
The Horizon Line, Gati, New Delhi
2012
Act of Victim, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi
Residencies
2017
Unidee/Inlaks Foundation, Biella, Italy
2017
Theertha International Artist Collective, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2016
HH Art Spaces, Goa
Morni Hills Performance Art Biennale, Chandigarh
2015
1Shanthiroad, Bangalore
Reflection International Art Residency, New Delhi
2014
Crack International Camp, Kusthiya, Bangladesh
2013
Crack International Camp, Kusthiya, Bangladesh
Workshops
2018
Art Performance Lab with Beatrice Didier, Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, New Delhi
2017
Self-Construction of Wooden Furniture, Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, Italy
2013
Body Temperature, Gati, Delhi
2012
Performance Workshop with Nikhil Chopra, KNMA, New Delhi
2011
Performance Workshop with Inder Salim, KNMA, New Delhi
2009
Conservation of Painting, College of Arts and Crafts, Patna University