Sagarika Sundaram (b.1986, Kolkata, India; lives and works in New York, US) describes her process as one of transformation: ‘There’s an alchemy to it,’ she says of her work. ‘It changes in its final form.’ This sense of transformation and ‘alchemy’ has been a central theme throughout Sundaram’s career, where she uses wool, silk, and dyes to create textile sculptures, reliefs, and installations. These works bridge the bodily and the botanical, using the materiality of wool to explore internal, external, and imagined landscapes.
After working in graphic design for a decade, Sundaram pursued an MFA at Parsons School of Design, New York, following her degree in Visual Communication from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Each element in her work—wool, silk, dye—is chosen for its distinct textural qualities, which contribute to the polyphonic nature of her compositions. Her use of felt, an ancient textile form originating in Central Asia, is especially important. Treated entirely by hand, the material holds deep geographic histories while its pliability enables Sundaram to explore the potential of material as a form of thought.
In her studio, Sundaram approaches wool as if sketching, layering fibres like cross-hatching to create a mesh. Her process is intuitive; the work’s anatomy reveals itself only as layers of unruly colour interact and evolve. Stretched and coiled, her unfolding forms explore the intersections between human and natural worlds, challenging the notion that the two can be separated. As Sundaram puts it, ‘By the time things are humming along, the ending makes itself obvious—the work is complete when I can feel it talking to me.’
Sundaram made her solo debut at Palo Gallery, New York (2023), and has participated in group exhibitions at the Bronx Museum (2024) and the Al Held Foundation & River Valley Arts Collective (2023). Her upcoming solo show will be at Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi (2025), and her work will be featured in the UBS VIP Lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach (2024).
Sundaram’s first solo exhibition with Alison Jacques will take place in Autumn 2025.
photo © Anita Goes
