Shahid Datawala (b. 1974) has photographed extensively for various publications.
His solo exhibitions include:
- I once was alive, Gallery 7, Mumbai, 2015
- Where the city rests, Matthieu Foss Gallery, Mumbai, 2010
- Shadow Boxing, Tasveer in Bangalore, Calcutta and New Delhi, 2008–2009
- Dress Dircle, Tasveer in Bangalore, Calcutta, Mumbai, New Delhi, 2007–2008
- A Walk with Pillars, Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, 2001
Datawala has also participated in a number of the group shows including:
- Post Visual World, curated by Gitanjali Dang, Priyashri Art gallery, Mumbai 2008
- Saturday is Cleaning Day, curated by Gitanjali Dang, The Loft, 2009
- India: Public Places, Private Spaces curated by Gayatri Sinha and Paul Sternberger, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, 2008 and The Newark Museum, New Jersey, 2007
- Click, curated by Radhika Singh and Sunil Gupta, Vadhera Art Gallery, New Delhi and Grosvenor, London, 2008
- By George curated by Gitanjali Dang, Alliance Française, New Delhi, 2010
- Where Three Dreams Cross, curated by Sunil Gupta and Radhika Singh, White Chapel Gallery, London, 2010
Shahid Datawala was also the chief designer for Pallate — a furniture design store in Mumbai, for 7 years. He was awarded the Edida Furniture Category Award in 2009 and the Edida Designer of the Year by Elle Décor in 2010. He also designs clothes and is a jewellery maker.
Datawala lives and works in Mumbai.
"Half Naked Nude" is the product of exploration and scavenging along the Konkan coast during monsoon of 2015. The artist began noticing extraordinary, sensuous forms in the refuse left behind by the purging force of the sea. Long forgotten pieces of fabric or plastic, swallowed, churned and spat out by the sea, have been given a second life through Datawala’s lens.
"I don’t see anything as ‘waste’. Everything carries the possibility of reuse, rebirth, reinterpretation", — says the artist.