About the Series: I have been making such “self-portraits” for some time now, whenever I feel a need to express my self-understanding as an immigrant to this country. Over the past few years, and depending on the external conditions, these drawings, which are diary entries, keep shifting from light to dark. Each drawing captures in immediate form some inner pressure.
Uday Dhar was born in London, England, but his childhood years were spent in Patna, India. In 1971 his family immigrated to the United States. He has lived in New York City since then, except for four years he spent in Berlin from 199194. He came out as a gay man in 1975 and lived through the A.I.D.S. epidemic in New York City. In 1992, in Berlin, he met his now-husband. He was born and raised in the former GDR. They both found a common bond as displaced individuals. These layered experiences of places, and time periods have made him appreciate that complexity is a virtue.