黑料不打烊

Alison Jacques presents 鈥楻elease鈥�, the first UK exhibition of new work by Sagarika Sundaram (b.1986, Kolkata, India; lives and works in New York). Working primarily with raw natural fibres, Sundaram鈥檚 intuitive practice of 鈥榩ainterly sculpture鈥� or 鈥榯extile painting鈥� defies material, spatial, and linguistic boundaries. This new body of work deepens her connection to fibre and felt; nuanced in colour and complex in form, she sculpts space as well as material, incorporating felt reliefs and glass mosaics, as well as a large-scale installation. This exhibition anticipates Sundaram鈥檚 forthcoming solo show, curated by Laurence Sillars, at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, in 2026.

鈥楻elease鈥� alludes to an aliveness in Sundaram鈥檚 practice. Born out of the internal space in the body that gives rise to breath or laughter, and driven by a kind of letting go, her works take shape through embedded pockets that are cut open in a single, irreversible gesture, releasing form from within. The exhibition showcases new avenues of expression, including the exploration of glass to create wall-based sculpture. A constant across Sundaram鈥檚 experimentation is her interest in colour, as she describes: 鈥榯here鈥檚 an alchemy to it鈥�. This colourful 鈥榓lchemy鈥� is both precise and playful, as she told Vogue India鈥檚 Radhika Iyengar, 鈥榓 true test of a dyer is not whether you can make colour, but if you can make the same colour twice.鈥�

A large-scale installation, suspended in the gallery鈥檚 naturally lit back space, is cut from one piece of cloth. The work transforms its environment, energising the spatial void with material encircling a central axis. Across the exhibition, works reference the mandala: a holistic concept integrating the body with itself, grounded in a flat geometric design, and structured around one central point. In its multidimensional activation through space 鈥� from wall relief to suspended sculpture 鈥� Sundaram breaks open this traditional symbol. As she observes: 鈥榳ith each new work, I develop new pathways.鈥� Informed by the modern dancer Chandralekha鈥檚 (1928-2006) interpretation of movement, artist Mrinalini Mukherjee鈥檚 (1949-2015) natural fibre sculptures, and Anish Kapoor鈥檚 (b.1954) large-scale investigation of matter and non-matter, Sundaram鈥檚 artwork choreographs the dynamic between the individual and the gallery space.

At age 11, while Sundaram was a student in Andhra Pradesh, India, she experimented with textiles for the first time, specifically batik 鈥� a wax-resist technique. Two decades later, in London, Sundaram made her first felt work, cleaving it open with a knife, later describing this process as 鈥榗utting it open felt like discovering a secret inside鈥�. In her studio, Sundaram transforms wool into felt through an organic process that involves a physical, embodied performance of dyeing, tearing, and compressing raw fibre. She handles material as if sketching, layering fibres like cross-hatching to make a mesh. Soaking her composition in soapy water, Sundaram then applies pressure to fuse the fibre into its final form. 鈥楤y the time things are humming along, the ending makes itself obvious鈥�, she describes. 鈥楾he work is complete when I can feel it talking to me.鈥�