Biography
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.1 ‘It changes in its final form.’2 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.
Sundaram’s interest in textiles has remained constant since childhood. ‘I didn’t grow up thinking about art as a canvas on a wall,’ she reflects.3 Raised between India and Dubai, her early visual education was informed by travel, observing daily domestic rituals, and learning traditional approaches to textiles, all of which sharpened Sundaram’s eye for composition and form.
Following her degree in Visual Communication from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Sundaram pursued an MFA at Parsons School of Design, New York. 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 the Fertile Crescent, 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 practice, folds of felt are opened like membranes, revealing hidden forms within. Sundaram’s works range from monumental, freestanding sculptures to more intimate, two-dimensional pieces that nestle against surfaces, capturing space in both subtle and commanding ways.
At the core of Sundaram’s practice is a focus on the creative principle itself. She draws from the memetic traditions of the global south, from the pleats of a Nigerian Gele to the drape of an Indian Veshti. Her work frequently incorporates concentric rings, spirals, and hybrid forms that evoke flowers, wombs, and maws—gestures that suggest themes of cyclical time. In an age of increasing digitization, Sundaram’s dedication to raw materials, ancient felt-making techniques, and a return to land—whether in the Himalayas or the Hudson Valley—shapes her labour-intensive yet organic practice.
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.’4
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 work was featured in the UBS Lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach (2024) and her solo exhibition ‘Polyphony’ is currently on view at Nature Morte, Delhi, until 23 February 2025.
[1] Sundaram cited in Andrew Gardner and Vyjayanthi Rao, Sagarika Sundaram: Source (New York: Nature Morte and Palo, 2024), 35.
[2] Sundaram cited in Gardner, 38.
[3] Sundaram cited in Gardner, 39.
[4] Sundaram cited in Gardner, 38.