Archana Hande was born in 1970 in Bangalore. She lives and works in both Mumbai and Bangalore. She holds a BFA in print making, from Viswa-bharati, Santiniketan and an MFA in print making from MS University, Baroda. She was awarded the Charles Wallace India Trust Arts Awards Residency at the Glasgow School of Arts in 2000, and a Research Residency from Pro Helvetia, Switzerland in 2010.
She has had many solo shows; major ones include All is Fair in Magic White, Delhi and Rome, 2010, www dot arrange your own marriage dot com, Mumbai, China, Finland, Sweden 2008-2012. She has participated in many international and national group shows such as Social Fabric, INIVA, UK, Sweden, Germany, India, Shadow Lines, Biennale Jogja XI 2011, So Close Yet So Far Away, Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, SAMTIDIGT, (concurrent), Sweden, Finland, Farewell to Post-Colonialism, The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, The International Print Biennial, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, The 7th International Triennial of Prints and Drawings Grafinnova ’98, Vaasa, Finland, Premio Internazionale Biella Per l’incisione, Italy, Sites of Recurrence, Boras Konstmuseum, Sweden and Dakshinachitra Madras, The Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Asia Society and Museum, New York, Tamayo Museum Mexico city, Museum of Contemporary Art (Marco), Monterrey, Art Circus Yokohama Triennial 2005 Japan, India Express, organised by Helsinki City Art Museum, 2006, Finland.
Archana has participated and organised many events in the public space like ‘Reclaim our Freedom Week’, Mumbai, ‘India Sabka’, Mumbai. She was both an artist and an organiser in the World Social Forum held in 2004 in Mumbai, and 2007 in Nairobi, curated Artist Proof for Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, was a delegation leader for Seeds of Peace, 2005, and worked as a stage and costume designer for the play ‘Orientation’ for a London-based theatre company, 2006. In addition, she has written for Indian publications.
Most recently, she co-curated Project Cinema City.