NANDITA MUKAND

(b. 1975, India)

Nandita Mukand is a Singapore-based artist whose practice encompasses sculpture, installation and painting. It explores the boundaries between the artificial and the natural. Mukand fashions materials from the urban realm into organic forms reminiscent of the natural world. This juxtaposition of material and form questions the perpetually growing encroachment of humans onto the natural world. The investigation is concerned not only with the impact on the environment but also with how the human psyche is implicated in this pursuit. Drawing upon her interest in ontology, neuroplasticity, quantum physics and buddhist texts, it often explores observations of growth and decay in the wilderness in conjunction with the workings of the urban mind. In other installations Mukand works with natural materials like dead plants, dried flowers and seeds. The interwoven aspects of contemporary life, vulnerability and chaos, resilience and graceful adaptation in the face of adversity, entropy and how we experience the passage of time -these are some of the themes that form the backdrop of her artistic practice.

Mukand’s work was included in the OpenART Biennale 2017, Sweden and Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth, Singapore Art Museum. Other notable exhibitions include solo shows : Mind(less) Wilderness (2019), Forest Weft, City Warp (2017-2018),The Materiality of Time (2015) and group shows : From Lost Roots to Urban Meadows, The Private Museum, Singapore (2019), Exploring BigCI, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Australia (2015), Untapped,Chan Hampe Gallery, Singapore (2016), Fundacio L'Olivar Summer Exhibition,Spain (2016). She has been awarded artist residencies by the Fundacio L’Olivar in Spain, the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Australia and the Bilpin International Ground for Creative Initiatives, Australia, all of which have enabled her to deepen her research into the natural world.

Having quit a successful corporate career with Proctor and Gamble to devote herself full-time to art making, Nandita graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (First Class) from Goldsmiths, College of London via LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. She received the LASALLE Award for Excellence for outstanding student of the year. Mukand is also an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and has a degree in Electronics Engineering.