Thesis 2024 / Meher Khan | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Image of Meher's thesis work, An interior view of an art installation featuring transparent curtains with various black and pink graphic elements, including text that reads 'Bauhaus' and 'KILLING JOKE'. The curtains are hung in a space with white walls, and are slightly overlapping, creating a partitioned area. On the left, a photograph is mounted on the wall, and the reflective surface on the right hints at the rest of the gallery space.

My work is autobiographical while inviting the viewer to consider their own identities, spaces, and biography. I aim to conceptually create a third space that is uniquely mine. Here, all my disparate identities are valid and present. I need not deny or leave any part of them in another space; they all enter with me and are visually apparent.

To create my own, third space I draw from my familial history in India which creates part of my current identity as a second-generation Indian American. I also refer to my origin and childhood in the United States, immersed in late 80s and early 90s American pop culture and alternative music.

The universal search for identity is viewed through my personal lens, to encourage viewers to begin or continue their own search, with their unique set of circumstances. As I search for answers to the questions of who my community is, how much of me is derived from my lineage, and the places I belong, I create work that captures the act of searching and reflects it back to the viewer.

Instagram: @meherk_art