Dr. Nisha Gupta

DESI EROS is an arts-based phenomenological research project about the lived experience of reclaiming erotic power among women from the South Asian diaspora: www.desieros.com.

Much community healing has happened as a result of this project, using the DESI EROS artwork to facilitate community dialogue through therapeutic art workshops in collaboration with Desi non-profit organizations in North America, India and across the Diaspora.

The project has been published here and here.

This project has received media coverage here, here, and here.

ILLUMINATE is an arts-based phenomenological research study about the lived experience of being in the closet as a non-hetero person. The research findings are disseminated in the format of a short film that evokes the lived experience of being in the closet via sensual, poetic cinematography.  

All imagery featured in this film is derived from research participants’ descriptions of what being closeted felt like for them personally.

The project has been published here, here, and here.

This project was made possible by a generous grant from Duquesne University.

EYES ON THE STREET is a youth photovoice project which empowered 25 children (ages 7-12) to use digital photography as a therapeutic tool to communicate their emotional experiences of their neighborhood and become self-advocates for social change. 

We also developed a photo-voice methodological toolkit that researchers, psychologists and activists can adapt to facilitate creative self-empowerment for their communities.

The project has been published here.

STORIES OF FAITH | STORIES OF HUMANITY is an arts-based phenomenological research project about the lived experiences of faith across diverse religious and spiritual affiliations. I transformed participants’ interviews into digital stories as “gifts of empathy” to facilitate interfaith dialogue and solidarity.

The project has been published here.

All digital stories of faith can be viewed here.

This project was made possible by a generous grant from New York University’s Center for Spiritual Life.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL ART COLLECTIVE is an arts-based research lab I launched at the University of West Georgia that guides undergraduate and graduate students to disseminate
phenomenological research to the public through the
media arts (film, paintings, poetry) for community healing, psychoeducation, and social change.

The research methodology I teach to students in this lab has been published here, here, and here.

A gallery of students’ phenomenological artwork can be viewed here.