Apnavi Makanji was born in Mumbai and moved to Geneva during their formative years.
Their body of work spans the mediums of drawing, collage, installation and video. Their preoccupations center around displacement and queer ecologies with an emphasis on decolonization, botany, explorations of memory and the idea of home.
They have been awarded The Prix Fondation Édouard et Maurice Sandoz 2024 for their project titled K(NOT)WEED.
Their most recent solo show titled PSYCHOPOMP was presented at TARQ, Mumbai in 2023. Their other solo exhibitions include Soil as Witness | Memory as Wound, TARQ, Mumbai, 2019; Travails of the Wandering MemorySeed, Galerie Félix Frachon, Brussels, 2016; Domus Vulgus, The Guild NY, New York 2010.
In 2021 they participated in a two-month residency at the Botanical Garden of Geneva. They took part in the Dhaka Art Summit (February, 2020) and have participated in several group shows including Claustrophobia Alpina, Forde, Geneva (2022); Nature You Are, Theatre Benno Besson in collaboration with Centre d’Art Contemporain Yverdon, Yverdon-Les-Bains (2022); Heat, Le Labo, Geneva (2022); (ME)MORY, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2021); Remembering the Present, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2018); Carnets, Halle Nord, Geneva (2017); Raving Disco Dolly on a Rock ‘n’ Roll Trolley, Envoy Enterprises, New York (2014); Considering Collage, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2013).
Makanji lives and works in Geneva.