Hema Upadhyay Biography 
Hema Upadhyay was an Indian artist from Mumbai known for photography and sculptural installations. Conducted several art exhibitions across India and abroad, she has been one of the budding artists of the field. She was the only Indian artist to be part of the inaugural exhibition for the Reopening of the MACRO museum, Rome. Unfortunately her dead body was found dumped in a storm water drain opposite a crematorium in the Dahanukar Wadi area of Kandivali, along with the body of Bhambhani, her lawyer who had filed her divorce with her husband - Chintan Upadhyay.
Her maiden name is Hema Hirani. She was born in 1972 in Vadodra, Gujarat. She studied at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She met her future husband Chintan Upadhyay in 1992 and they got married and settled in Mumbai in 1998. They worked together and conducted several exhibitions. But the couple filed a divorce in 2010. In 2013, she filed a harassment case against Chintan, for painting obscene sketches on the walls of her room.
She conducted her first solo exhibition in 2001, after her marriage. It was titled Sweet Sweat Memories, held at Gallery Chemould. Her paintings characterized by the inclusion of small-collaged photographic self-portraits. Same year she conducted her first international solo at Artspace, Sydney. It was titled The Nymph and the Adult. In 2003, she did a collaborative work titled Made in China. From 2004 onwards, she conducted several museum exhibitions across the world. She also conducted several workshops.
Hema Upadhyay went missing on Friday, 11 December 2015. She had called the domestic help in the evening to tell that she will have lunch outside. She didn’t return that night and the domestic help registered a missing person complaint, after contacting her friends and relatives. Hema's lawyer Haresh Bhambani was also missing from the same time and on 13 December 2015, the dead bodies of both were found dumped in a drain in Kandivali. Investigation has already begun.
Published: N/A
Updated: December 24, 2015
