Dear God — viscosity, needle & thread, 2004

Multidisciplinary Artist · India

Aishwarya
Sultania

A practice spanning two decades — cyanotypes, performance, painting, tech art, and the spaces between body and cosmos.

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Exhibited · Funded · Collaborated with

British Council
Goethe Institut
Alliance Française
ZKM Karlsruhe
Beaux-Arts de Paris
Indian Council for Cultural Relations
NIPAF Japan
Beaux-Arts de Paris
NIPAF Japan
Khoj International Artists' Association
Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
NIFT
Ministry of Culture, Government of India
Raza Foundation
India Foundation for the Arts
Lalit Kala Akademi
Raza Foundation
India Foundation for the Arts
Lalit Kala Akademi

Statement

"I wanted to capture the movement of the body lying bare in the sun — to be caressed and healed. We are a product of the elements and I find natural elements to be most comforting in any sort of adverse situation."

— Aishwarya Sultania, on the cyanotype series The Woman and Beyond

Chapter I

Two Decades, One Practice

Sun Sign Series — carved on soap, 2000
2000 · Sun Sign Series
Dear God — viscosity & thread, 2004
2004 · Dear God
Buraq Series — light based work, 2005
2005 · Buraq Series
Yeh Sheher Nahi Mehfil Hai — mixed media 6×8ft, 2012
2012 · Yeh Sheher Nahi Mehfil Hai
Heart to Heart — Performance, 2013
2013 · Heart to Heart
Projector — mixed media on acrylic, 2014
2014 · Projector
Typography series — gallery installation, 2015
2015 · Typography Series
Community mural painting, 2017
2017 · Community Mural
Earth mandala — flower spiral, 2018
2018 · Earth Mandala
Hampi tiffin souvenir — 2019
2019 · Hampi Souvenir
Rangoli with pigments — Anegundi, 2019
2019 · Rangoli
Stone idols — Hampi, 2019
2019 · Stone Idols
Lambadi tribeswoman — Anegundi, 2019
2019 · Lambadi
Kolam — site-specific drawing, Anegundi 2019
2019 · Kolam · Anegundi

A journey of two decades with a multidisciplinary approach — from academic drawings in 2000 to large-scale cyanotypes exhibited at South Asian Contemporary Art Amsterdam in 2025. The practice moves fluidly between mediums and never stands still.

Flower study in dry brush, 2001
Flower study · dry brush · 2001
Sun Sign Series — carved on soap, 2000
Sun Sign Series · soap · 2000
Dear God — viscosity, needle & thread, 2004
Dear God · viscosity & thread · 2004
  • 2000 Solo show — Welham Girls' School, Dehradun
  • 2001 Solo show — Welham Girls' School Principal's Special Award & Ayesha Mayadas Kenny Scholarship for Creativity Yoga certification, Ramamani Memorial Iyengar Institute, Pune
  • 2003 Co-curated & exhibited in "Nuts?! Yes Nuts!" — SPACE, Delhi 1-year Curatorial Study Programme under Johny M. Laxman, SPACE
  • 2004 B.A. Hons, Higher National Diploma (Edexcel, London) — SPACE, Delhi Performance Art Show "Off The 19th Milestone" sponsored by BSNL, Dehradun Annual Exhibition 'Space within Space', Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi Collaborative installation with R.V. Sindhu, SPACE
  • 2005 'Tsunami' Fund-Raising Exhibition — SPACE, Delhi Annual Art Exhibition — SPACE
  • 2006 B.F.A. in Painting — SPACE, Rai Foundation Group show 'Sanjhe Rang', Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Delhi Annual Exhibition '14 Strokes', Arpana Caur Art Gallery, Delhi
Orange Woman — Buraq Series, 2005
Orange Woman · Buraq Series
Lazy Lump of Protoplasm, 2005
Lazy Lump of Protoplasm · 2005
Woman with Swollen Tummy, phototransfer, 2004
Woman with Swollen Tummy
  • 2007 Khoj International Artists' Association — PEERS Residency, Delhi 'Crossing Currents' — paintings & sculptures, Punjab University, Chandigarh Annual Art Exhibition, Lalit Kala Academy, Chandigarh Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy Scholarship for Young Artists Cleared IELTS (grade 8/9)
  • 2008 M.V.A. in Painting — Gold Medalist, topped with distinction — Govt. College of Art, Chandigarh, Panjab University Group show 'Indian Red', Chandigarh Volunteer in Fluxus performance show with Ben Patterson, NGMA Delhi
  • 2009 Cleared UGC NET & Junior Research Fellowship examination Won French Embassy–Krishnakriti Fellowship (Paris, 2009–10) Project Beingeverywhere with artist Stefan Reibel — Delhi, Benares, Norway
Wooing Paris — performance, 2010
Wooing Paris · 2010
Backbone — photographs, 2010
Backbone · photographs · 2010
Beyond Languages — performance, Myanmar, 2011
Beyond Languages · Myanmar · 2011
  • 2010 Krishnakriti Fellowship year at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA), Paris Portes Ouvertes — two photo installations, Beaux-Arts de Paris Project Human Library, Cité Universitaire Paris Empreinte Mon Accent, Cité Universitaire Paris Exposition atelier Jean-Luc Vilmouth 5.9m², Beaux-Arts de Paris Part of Nevin Aladag's performative work — Saison de la Turquie, Beaux-Arts Video & performance workshop 'Keep Calm and Carry On', Paris Chausette Du Tête, Paris Won grant Fonds Pour Les Initiatives Étudiants, Paris Kitchen Culture of the Shared Kitchens — community art project, Cité Internationale, Paris Invited — Nippon International Performance Art Festival, Japan Artists' Camp, Vizag
  • 2011 NIPAF Performance Art Tour — Yangon/Myanmar, Phnom Penh/Cambodia, Bandung/Indonesia Kalakriti Art Camp, Hyderabad & Krishnakriti Art & Culture Festival
Network — installation, 2012
Network · installation · 2012
Network — performance, 2010
Network · performance
New Delhi — mixed media, 2012
New Delhi · mixed media · 2012
Heart to Heart — performance, 2013
Heart to Heart · 2013
Projector — PVR Cinemas commission, 2014
Projector · PVR · 2014
  • 2012 Solo show — Palette Art Gallery, Delhi Belgrade Art Fair — new video art from India Group show 2+2=5, Palette Art Gallery Live Art, Bangalore Sowing Seeds International Artists' Residency, Kaman Art Foundation, Jodhpur
  • 2013 S M Sultan International Art Residency, Bangladesh Art Camp, Konark Summer show & India Art Summit, Palette Art Gallery, Delhi Group show 6×6, Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi HAIL — contemporary young artists, Gallery MNF, Kochi
  • 2014 Visiting Faculty — NIFT Gandhinagar (Visual Systems, Semiotics, Creative Cognition — until 2020) Group show ART MART, Khajuraho Dance Festival India Art Summit, Palette Gallery
Unwarping Time — Viscosity, needle & thread
Unwarping Time · 2018
Rangoli
Rangoli · pigment
Learning Indian Dance — Anegundi
Anegundi · 2019
Lambadi tribeswoman
Lambadi tribeswoman · 2019
Flower mandala, Anegundi
Flower mandala · Anegundi
  • 2015 Solo show — Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad Krishnakriti Art Residency, Hyderabad India Art Summit (also 2016, 2017)
  • 2017 All Women's National Art Camp, Udaipur
  • 2018 Solo show 'Unwarping Time' — Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française de Delhi (curated by Shruthi Issac, supported by Raza Foundation) WADE Women Artists & Designers' Exhibition, Delhi Two-person show, Citypulse Gandhinagar Dr. Fischer's Art Project for Peace — Goa, Ahmedabad, Israel Certified Folk Fitness Trainer (India folk dance fitness, Make in India) Taught Yoga, Anapana Vipassana & Pranayama, Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre, Leh, Ladakh Betla Mahotsav (folk fitness & art workshop), Jharkhand
  • 2019 Project Anegundi — mapping heritage, community & sustainable tourism, Hampi, Karnataka WE the 5 group show, Citypulse Gandhinagar Living Waters Museum — virtual exhibition, World Water Day Art Therapy workshop (Violet Oaklander method), Wayanad Yoga & wellness retreats, Hampi and Wayanad
DOT — AI Bot, body shaming
DOT · AI Bot · 2021
Flyover Country — creature illustrations
Flyover Country · AR · 2021
Flyover Country — wearable
Flyover Country · wearable
  • 2020 Solo show 'Negotiating Neighborhood — Ambiguous Identities', Gandhinagar Kintsugi: The Ancestral House Project, Jharia, Jharkhand — art & heritage systems experiment Art workshop with coal-digging children, 'Devi — Women Empowerment', Betla Mahotsav, Chase Art Foundation Toxicity — International Alternative Art Symposium, Chitkara University, Punjab Expert guest lecturer, EDII & TGCL Gujarat Tourism
  • 2021 Radbot TechArt Fellowship — AI Bot (DOT) on body shaming (British Council India, Goethe Institute, Dara.network) Flyover Country TechArt Fellowship — AR storytelling in public space (British Council, Jaaga, Befantastic, Kcymaerxthaere) C3 TechArt Fellowship — creative coding, open source (Goethe Institute Mumbai, ZKM Karlsruhe) CMDA Fellowship — Culture Management in the Digital Age (Goethe Institute, Art X Company, Jaaga) PhD Year 1, Anant National University — intangible & tangible cultural heritage and sustainable tourism (with UNESCO Chair Dr. Amareshwar Galla) Public Art residency, Udaipur — community engagement with Bhil & Mina tribes Yajnaseni & Akshaya Patra group shows, International Women's Day
  • 2022 Shodh Scholarship for Research, Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat Indelible Marks 2, curated by Akshat Sinha, Patiala
Devi Emerges — cyanotype, 2025
Devi Emerges · 2025
Bharat — cyanotype, 2025
Bharat · cyanotype · 2025
Exhibition view — Amsterdam, 2025
Amsterdam · 2025
  • 2024 Public Art Project — 20–30 ft iron sculptures installed at prominent public sites, New Delhi (Ministry of Culture, Lalit Kala Academy) 'Elephant in the Room' — collaboration with Conflictorium, India & Stroom Den Haag, Netherlands Ramayana group show, ICCR at Bikaner House, New Delhi
  • 2025 Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy Grant for international exhibition 'The Distance Between Us' — solo cyanotype exhibition, South Asia Contemporary Art Amsterdam Group exhibition, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam 'Namah Buddha' — group show, Sanchi Stupa, New Delhi Looking with OTHER (M)others residency, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (facilitated by Dr. Ruchika Wason Singh)

Chapter II

Body & Time

Viscosity — needle and thread, 2004/2018
Alliance Française de Delhi 2018
Unwarping
Time

Investigating the implications of encounter with an unfamiliar space — a rencontre with Paris, its culture and language. A year at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts becomes abstracted memories: word-image, time collapsed, a city's spine.

Curated by Shruthi Issac. Inaugurated at Galerie Romain Rolland, New Delhi. Part of Back From France — a series on the India–France story.

Mixed Media Performance Photography Needle & Thread

Chapter III · 2025

The Woman and Beyond

A series of cyanotypes that began with the idea of making love to the Sun. The ancient Indian archetype of Surya Bhagawan — the eternal witness, the illuminating presence — meets the body, the domestic object, the cosmos.

Printed on archival cotton, each work is a solar contact print. Found objects — jigsaw puzzle pieces, lace, scissors, a Christmas star — become sacred geometries when pressed against the sun-sensitive surface.

Essay by John Xaviers Arackal — Assistant Curator, 4th Kochi Biennale · Program Head, India Foundation for the Arts

Reaching — Cyanotype on archival cotton
The Cosmic Dance
Devi Emerges
Trying to Grasp
Bharat, 16×16 in, 2025
Bharat · Archival cotton · 16×16 in · 2025
Air, 36 in diameter, 2025
Air · Archival cotton · 36 in diameter · 2025
Cyanotype detail
Domesticity of Chaos · 8×8 in · 2025
Cyanotype — figure
Archival Cotton · 2025
Space, 36 in diameter, 2025
Space · Archival cotton · 36 in diameter · 2025
Celestial City
Celestial City · Archival cotton · 16×16 in · 2025
Exhibition view — Amsterdam 2025
Exhibition view · South Asian Contemporary Art Amsterdam · 2025
Cyanotype detail
Detail · Archival cotton · 2025
Cyanotype work
Archival cotton · 2025

Chapter IV

Worlds Made

Tech Art · AI
DOT — AI Bot on body shaming

AI Bots

DOT & Valmiki Bot

Two conversational AI characters — DOT, an avatar confronting body shaming, and Valmiki Bot, an AI reimagining the Ramayana. The body as material for art, mythology rewritten through code.

Tech Art · Collaboration
Flyover Country — creature illustrations

Flyover Country

Jlotkommen & the Tehachapi

A speculative world-building project set in the alternate universe of Kcymaerxthaere. Developing Jlotkommen — a mythical creature whose purring has the force of song. Illustration, wearable prints, and video.

Flyover Country — printed wearable DOT — sketch and development
Aishwarya Sultania at South Asian Contemporary Art Amsterdam, 2025

Aishwarya
Sultania

A multidisciplinary artist based in India with over two decades of practice. Working across cyanotype, mixed media, performance, installation, and technology, her work consistently returns to the body — its relationship with cosmos, myth, and the everyday domestic.

She studied at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Her work has been shown at the Alliance Française de Delhi, South Asian Contemporary Art Amsterdam, and in collaborative tech-art contexts globally.

25+ Years
5+ Solo Shows
Mediums