Shanthamani Muddaiah

Shanthamani Muddaiah is a contemporary Indian sculptor and installation artist whose practice explores the intersections of nature, memory, materiality, and socio-environmental change. Working primarily with natural and ephemeral materials such as charcoal, paper, ash, and bamboo, her work reflects on themes of transformation, sustainability, urbanisation, and cultural identity. Over the past three decades, she has exhibited extensively in India and internationally, including at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India Art Fair, and leading galleries in Europe, Asia, and North America. Her public installations and sculptures are part of institutional and private collections, and she has received several prestigious fellowships from the Government of India and international organisations. Based in Bengaluru, her interdisciplinary practice combines artistic experimentation with critical engagement on environmental and social issues through contemporary art.

Past Affiliations / Fellowships:

• Charles Wallace India Trust Scholar, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland (Paper Making Programme, 2004)
• National Senior Fellow, Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2012–2014)
• National Junior Fellow, Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Government of India (2006–2008)
• Inlaks Foundation - Take Off Grant Recipient (1992)

Educational Qualifications

• Master of Fine Arts (Painting), Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA), Mysuru
• Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship in Paper Making, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland (2004)

Publications / Professional Contributions

• Neither Tree nor Ashes – Exhibition essay by Tami Katz-Freiman accompanying Shanthamani Muddaiah's solo exhibition at Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris (2016). https://www.katzfreiman.com/publications/neither-tree-nor-ashes-conversation-with-shanthamani-m/?utm