CSACH is thrilled to have Swapnaa Tamhane as our Winter 2026 Artist-in-Residence.
Artist Statement:
My research begins with the material histories of cotton and jute which led to making handmade paper, working with archives, and textile installations. I consider my practice through a lens of drawing, considering mark-making through embroidery and drawing in space with cloth or mirrors, alongside the use of more traditional drawing materials like chalk pastel or pencil. I work closely with wood block carvers, block printers, embroiderers and dyers in Kutch, Gujarat, India, in a skill-sharing and collaborative process. I am interested in dissolving and decolonizing hierarchies between art, craft, design, and everyday objects as imprinted by British colonialism in India and working with ornamentation to imbue the conceptual into the decorative. Much of my work questions how value is determined, and questions forms of display or representation.
Biography:
Swapnaa Tamhane’s art practice is dedicated to drawing and the material histories of cotton and jute. She has an MFA in Fibres & Material Practices, Concordia University, Montreal, where she was recently an Artist-in-Residence. She has been supported by SSHRC, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, and was an International Museum Fellow with the Kulturstiftung des Bundes in 2013. Her research extends to material culture, and with designer Rashmi Varma, she wrote SĀR: The Essence of Indian Design, Phaidon Press (2016). She has exhibited her work at Nature Morte, Delhi; articule, Montreal; Sculpture Park Jaipur; Green Art Gallery, Dubai; Victoria & Albert Museum, Dundee, Scotland; and has had solo exhibitions at Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; and Surrey Art Gallery, British Columbia, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA, and she has been shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award 2025. She is an Artist-in-Residence at University of Toronto, Mississauga, and a Visiting Artist Fellow at Harvard University, Spring 2026.