Smrita Jain
Smrita Jain (born 31 January 1983, in New Delhi, India) is an Indian designer, artist, photographer, poet, author and design educator currently living in New York City. She has authored and designed two books, "Fat Free Samosa" (due in 2018) and "Creating Durga" (2013), both published by Surmrit Gallery of Art and Design. Her art has been showcased in New York, London, and India. A cultural documentary photographer, her first book, Creating Durga, gained international recognition and a second, an autobiography called Fat Free Samosa, is due for release in 2018. Smrita was the keynote speaker at KADLondon2017 , a creativity conference, and has also spoken at Global Status of Women and Girls. She has exhibited at Pratt Institute, Javits Center, Queens Museum, The Juliana Curran Terian Design Center Pavilion, The Arthur M. Berger Art Gallery, and The Nehru Center London. As a designer, Smrita has worked with the likes of Wilbur-Ellis, Financial Accounting Foundation, Ernst & Young, WebMD, Manchester Designer Outlets, Google, JDRF, Tyco, Rockefeller Center Collaborative Research Center, NASCAR Hall of Fame, Ministry of Indian Tourism and Supreme Court Museum of India. She has won several awards from, among others, GDUSA, Creativity International, Summit International Creative, London  International Creative, and Design Firms. Early life. After finishing an undergraduate degree in Bachelors in Design with a major in Graphics in 2005 from Apeejay Institute of Design, Smrita worked with Design Workshop, an advertising agency based in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. In 2007, she entered Pratt Institute, NY in 2007 in the Masters in Science for Communications Design program, graduating in 2010. The Aquario Group. Established with headquarters in New York, The Aquario Group (TAG) is an internationally recognized strategic communications firm specializing in design and marketing with its second location based in New Delhi, India. This year, Smrita  was named a Design Leader by the AIGA. Smrita formed TAG to be ethically centered, creating no partnerships with firms and brands that harm life or the environment. Surmrit Gallery of Art and Design. Surmrit Gallery of Art and Design is an artist-led art gallery based in Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York. It was opened in Newport, Jersey City as the first private art gallery in the area in May 2014. Since its inception, the gallery has taken part in numerous art shows and has hosted many exhibitions around the world. Feminism. Smrita's personal work is deeply infused  with a positive feminism and empowerment. In an interview with Sakhi Magazine Smrita explained why she needed to create her book Fat Free Samosa realizing "there are so many issues of race, caste, and creed in our society that I felt a strong need to tell my story. Buying a fat free salad dressing is not enough to keep yourself fat free. There is fat and grime (racism, sexism, discrimination based on caste and class, rich/poor comparison, fat shaming, body shaming and many other issues) in our minds and souls that needs to be eradicated." The website Feminist Wednesday  invited Smrita Jain to share "the ways in which her art has allowed her to overcome experiences which have kept many women silent, and reminds us how valuable our voices can be for someone in need." In an interview with Ask Artists Smrita discussed independence from an early age noting "I always had an independent way of thinking, coming to my own decisions and conclusions." Speaking Engagements. Smrita Jain spoke at the Global Status of Women and Girls Conference at Christopher Newport University in March 2017. She presented a talk on Understanding, Defining, and Preventing Dating and Domestic Violence. In  September 2017, Smrita Jain was the keynote speaker at KADLondon2017, a two-day creativity conference held at The Nehru Center, London, UK, a cultural wing of The High Commission of India. She began the evening with her paper on the interaction between art and design and its value in cultural representation. Each case study she presented offered a different perspective and broke stereotypical impressions of the Indian culture. In March 2018, Smrita Jain was invited again to speak about Art and Activism in India how it is failing at Christopher Newport University at Newport News Virginia.