Vandana is an India-based multidisciplinary artist working across performance, video, installation, photography, and sculpture.
Born in Bhiwani, Haryana, she studied at Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Arts, Mumbai, and earned her MFA in Fine Art from Kingston University, London. Her practice explores the body, silence, ritual, and the relationship between gesture and identity.
She has presented work at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Bangkok Art Biennale, and Daegu Art Fair, as well as in exhibitions and residencies across India, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Notable works include Calling from the DARK, performed at an exhibition by Desee Art and I The Flame, a 175-hour monumental performance at Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 commissioned by MAI (Marina Abramović Institute).
Biography
Vandana is an India-based multidisciplinary artist working across performance, video, installation, photography, and mixed-media sculpture. Born in Haryana, she received her foundational training at Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Arts, Mumbai, and completed her MFA in Fine Art at Kingston University, London, where she was awarded the Kingston GOLD Award.
Her practice engages the body as both subject and medium, examining silence, repetition, ritual, and the subtle structures that shape perception and selfhood. It begins in silence and extends into the body, its routines, and the question of identity beneath the names we carry. Through close attention to automatic gestures such as blinking, speaking, and breathing, she explores the relationship between bodily action, memory, and lived experience. Using pared-down forms and durational modes, Vandana constructs works that create space for reflection, presence, and bodily awareness.
A pivotal moment in her practice came in 2013, when she received a fully sponsored three-month Artist Residency in Switzerland through Stiftung Futur. During this residency, she presented her first official live public performance at the opening of her solo exhibition. A significant performance followed at Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, where MAI (Marina Abramović Institute) commissioned her 175-hour durational performance I The Flame. Since then, her work has been shown in major exhibitions and platforms, including Calling from the DARK, performed at an exhibition by Desee Art, Kochi Muziris Biennale (2025-26), Daegu Art Fair’s Young Artist Project, Stiftung Futur residency in Switzerland, and the Jerwood Drawing Prize in London. In 2022, she was invited to participate in the group exhibition Family Matter (FAMILIENSACHE), directed by Céline Gaillard and Simone Kobler, at Museum Kunst Zeug Haus, Switzerland, from 21 August to 23 October 2022. Projects such as Silence and Rituals of Self reflect a sustained inquiry into the body as a site of transition, knowledge, and transformation. Her practice is defined by conceptual rigour, material sensitivity, and an ongoing engagement with contemporary questions of embodiment and identity.