Saranjit Birdi

Born 1960 in Punjab, India.
Lived in UK from 1965, trained and worked as an architect 1979-2004 and established a professional arts practice in 2000. Concurrently trained and performed jazz-street-contemporary dance and jazz percussion.

I am inspired by Dance, Music, Architecture and dynamic form. I search for a synthesis of form often incorporating poetry. The Life drawing works shown here also include a series exploring ability/disability using different parts of the body to draw.

My work explores mark-making, duration and sensation using drawing, painting, digital photography and collage, film and performance. My recent works investigate limitations and boundaries such as physical disability, social exclusion, territory, stereotyping and freedom.

Drawing on experiences as jazz percussionist, architect and dancer, I work with a range of media including performance and installations. I have completed several public art and sculpture commissions and my collaborations with other artists have included light and buildings, dance-on-film and theatre - See link Axis Artist database .aspx?ARTISTID=11735



.aspx?ARTISTID=11735 and

EDUCATION and QUALIFICATIONS
MA in Fine Art Practice, Birmingham City University Sept 2009
Certificate of Credit Developing Arts For Health Staffordshire University 2007
Gallery In The Trees Public Artist Course - Birmingham City Council 1999
MA Interior Design with Computer Technology (Distinction) - UCE Birmingham 1998
RSA Dance Leaders In the Community 1990
Royal Institute of British Architects RIBA Part III Architect Bristol University 1985
Diploma in Architecture Bristol University 1984
BA(Honours) in Architecture Bristol University 1982

AWARDS
First Prize Video Category Wolverhampton Art Gallery Exhibition OPEN 2008 for work Interrogation
July 2008
Shropshire Pride Award 2002 for Seams of Time Sculpture Trail in Highley, Shropshire

PUBLICATIONS AND APPEARANCES
Mention in 'FROM JAZZ FUNK & FUSION TO ACID JAZZ: THE HISTORY OF THE UK JAZZ DANCE SCENE' by Mark Cotgrove 2009
ASIAN MAGAZINE BBC 1983
Biographical feature as architectural student at Bristol University exploring Dance, Poetry and Architecture.
Photograph and caption in the publication Inside BBC 1983.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
See, saw Photographic/video installation, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford) ...

per forms
Exhibition of works by Saranjit Birdi
9 January – 2 March 2012
at The Drum, Birmingham www.the-drum.org.uk/

‘per’ - by means of; through
‘form’ - the mode in which a thing exists, acts, or manifests itself; kind

'Having produced visual artwork, dance performance and architectural design over the last three decades, I have realized my work is connected by an energy, that energy is music, a sensation that becomes an emotional ‘driver’ to be expressed or transfigured in some form or another. The exhibits in ‘per form’ derive from music and dance, manifesting as action-painting, photographic and digital works, film and architecture, engaging all senses.

The Drum, as a diverse performance venue, is ideal for this collection of works'.