COLLECTIONS
COLLECTIONS
INTALLATIONS
ABOUT
ABOUT
My life in London has roots that snake across continents and cultures. I am a mother-maker whose art in sculpture, collage, installation and poetry is a record of life as I see, feel, hear and hold. Through my making using ways of old and ordinary, I hope to remake a different telling of this story of life with no fixed beginning, middle or end. I work with clay, earth, ceramic, paper, wood, ink, paint and found print. In a world of the fast and furious, mine is a slow practice of listening, observing, depth, care, freedom and above all acceptance.
I meld form, pattern, and colour meshing materials drawing on my eastern ancestral knowledge of clay, cloth and colour. With a childhood deeply rooted in Kolkata’s Durga Thakur tradition, my association with clay is not with the ubiquitous pot
but that of the monumental idol of the Durga Protima. To me practice is devotion, sculpture, tradition, alive, story-carrying, godly-mortal, recording and replaying,
shape changing, bringer of communion, maker of community, and gloriously celebrates ours humanity.
Rooted in storytelling, I examine the human experience and contemporary life through intricate patterns and fluid forms. I merge age-old techniques with contemporary sensibilities influenced by Bengal’s artisanal traditions, creating richly
detailed surfaces.
A muddled life of moving lands many times, I am a reader and recorder of people. My visual chronicles of memory and belonging arise through experimenting with scale and materiality, I seek to transforms personal moments into universal reflections, weaving past and present, east with west to create a visual record of the evolving human condition.
Kumar Tuli, Kolkata © Devi Chakrabarti, India, 2018
CONTACT
BIOGRAPHY
I was born in Doncaster and brought up in India. My working studio is based in West London. The work travels to HG Matthews Brickworks in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, where I glaze and fire the work to completion in a working production environment.
Education
MA Ceramics & Gkass, Royal College of Art (2026)
Kinsugi for Starters, Kinsugi Oxford, UK (2019)
BA Ceramic Design 1st Class Honours Central Saint Martins, London, UK (2016)
3D & 2D Portfolio, City Lit, London, UK (2013)
Structured Ceramics, City Lit, London, UK (2011/12)
B. Com, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India (1994)
Awards
Jerwood Artist in Residence Soane Museum(2026)
Royal College of Art, MA President and Vice Chancellor's Scholarship (2025)
CAS Emerging Sculptors Development Award (2023)
Chinnor Public Art Commission (2023)
Gilbert Bayes Award, Royal Society of Sculptors (2023)
Homo Faber Master Artisan, Michaelangelo Foundation (2022)
Mullen Nova Award Nominee (2016)
Exhibitions
2026
Summer Exhibition, Dover Street Market, London
Secret Ceramics FireUp4, Sotheby's, London Craft Week
Ananlogue, Hypha Curate, London
2025
Traces on the Landscape, Glynos Cultural Centre, Korthi, Andros, Greece
100/50, Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London
Secret Ceramics FireUp4, Christie's, London Craft Week
2024
Take a Seat, Ha.lf - Bow Arts, London
Reality Check, Royal Society of Sculptors, London
Gilbert Bayes 2023 Winners Exhibition, Art House, Wakefield
Folerou Artist Residency , Andros. Greece
Gilbert Bayes 2023 Winners Exhibition, Royal Society of Sculptors, London
Sculptural Interventions, Hilliers Arboretum, Romsey, Hampshire
A Pull or A Push, Thames-Side Studio Gallery, London
2023
Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors
Wells Art Contemporary, Well Cathedral, Somerset
Woven Expression, Chelsea Space, London
Summer Exhibition Galleri Heike Arndt, Kettinge, Denmark
2022
SCOUT 2022, Galleri Heike Arndt, Kettinge, Denmark
Wells Art Contemporary 2022, Somerset, Group Show
Fresh Legs, Inselgalerie, Berlin, Group Show
Fair Art Fair Curated II WOMXN, Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London, Group Show
2021
Willesden Gallery, Freedom's Flight
FORM, Highgate Contemporary Arts, Group Show
2019
ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries
198 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill, Jaama Blowing in the Wind, Solo Summer Gallery / Residency
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Willesden Gallery, Making Marks, Debut Solo
2016
Central Saint Martins Degree Show
Brainwaves, Lethaby Gallery, London Design Festival
2015
British Ceramic Biennial
Press
New Ceramics, Issue 1/2021 (2021)