Jovita Alvares (b.93) is a multidisciplinary artist working in photo-based media, video, text, textiles, painting and installation. Growing up as part of an ethno-religious minority in Pakistan, Alvares has always felt sensitive to how forms of otherization emerge, and through her practice, focuses on relocating the 'Other' to the forefront. Drawing on firsthand experiences, her research often begins by parsing through photographic archives as a guide to challenge modes of meaning-making through form and gesture. 

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While through her previous works, she found herself following stray dogs and the bougainvillea plants that struggle to survive through the rigidity of Karachi’s urban environment, her exploration has now moved closer towards the marginalized community she grew up in. Her current research explores how histories of colonialism, imperialism and the partition of India incited layers of erasure and exclusion within marginalized communities in South Asia. Using her family archive as a lens, she interrogates how these dislocations impact notions of home, belonging, and identity. 

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Alvares graduated with the title of Valedictorian and was awarded a Distinction from her undergraduate university. She is the recipient of the Imran Mir Art Prize for emerging artists and a USEFP Fulbright Scholar.