Nina Mangalanayagam is a visual artist working with still and moving image. In her practice, Mangalanayagam explores themes of belonging and hybridity, often using a semi-autobiographical approach.

Her research analyzes the shifting points of identifi­cation she experiences as a mixed-heritage subject to explore the dichotomy of black and white notions of identity.

Mangalanayagam’s photographic works are presen­ted in public spaces as part of Moving Out, a regional collaboration with the municipalities of Vårgårda and Bollebygd. Mangalanayagam’s series of large black-and-white photographs depicts nature and landscapes alongside portraits of herself and her mother, poetic explorations of belonging and rootedness. The works juxtapose the role of nature in the Swedish psyche with the more intimate process of finding a place of belong­ing, and familial relationships.

Mangalanayagam is a lecturer at the HDK-Valand Aca­demy in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she is currently responsible for the BA program in photography. Recent selected exhibitions include: Vigilance, Struggle, Pride: Through Her Eyes at Umelka Gallery, Slovak Union of Visual Arts, Bratislava, Slovakia (2019); No Looking Back, Okay? at Umetnostna galerija (UGM), Maribor, Slovenia; Vigilance, Struggle, Pride: Through Her Eyes at the Organ Vida Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia; Sisterhood and Gentle Men at Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria; The Tangled Web of Belonging at PhotoEast Festival, Ipswich, UK; Vigilan­ce, Struggle, Pride: Through Her Eyes at Kunstquarti­er Bethanien, Studio 1, Berlin, Germany and at Umet­nostna galerija (UGM), Maribor, Slovenia (all 2018).