Hi Divya, thanks for speaking with us! Please can you start by introducing yourself to the readers?
I am a London based Indian/British artist. I moved with my husband and young daughter to the UK in 2009. Growing up in 80s India, I was not encouraged to take up creative studies and so when we moved to the UK, I decided to give it a go and immediately enrolled in evening courses to practise and learn techniques in portrait painting and figurative ceramic sculpture. It was after I joined art college (UAL) for my BA in Painting and then MA in Sculpture from the RCA that I found my voice and could put all the ideas and themes and techniques I had learnt into context.
I am a multi-disciplinary artist but the pandemic and lockdown in 2020 was a catalyst that prompted me to seriously take up textiles and threads as a medium. I found my niche with tufting, and this has opened many opportunities in terms of being selected for strategic art competitions. The New Contemporaries is a prestigious competition for art students (in 2021 it was judged by Veronika Ryan and Xadie Za), and I was the only one from my cohort in the RCA to have been selected. I was also selected for the Textile Triennale in Lodz, and the NAE Open in Nottingham. I was granted Arts Council funding in 2023.
Alongside this, I co-founded a South Asian Arts Collective called The Neulinge Collective in 2017, have co-curated six shows and also host the ARTiculate podcast.
What made you want to apply for Collect Open?
I have had Collect Open on my radar for a few years now ever since I had started following Crafts Council through social media. When the open call popped up in my feed and I saw it was situated in the iconic Somerset House, I decided to work on the application. I had started working collaboratively with Emmanuel Boateng, and so we decided to apply together for Collect Open.
What were you hoping to get from exhibiting at the fair and did you achieve what you set out to?
I was really pleased to be selected by the advisory panel, and was excited after my online meetings with Caroline and Isobel. When Emmanuel decided he didn’t have the bandwidth to participate in the show, I took a call to continue as a sole participant. I was asked to send an updated proposal with drawings of how my piece would look and the themes I was working with. I had three months to start and finish, and I knew my piece would take time to make as it was pretty large and there was no time for trial and error, so it had to be right from the get-go.
I was happy that the timing and my instinct for the piece worked out well. Due to the nature of my small studio space, I had to work on it in sections, so the first time I saw it in its entirety from afar was when it was installed at Somerset House. In all honesty I was just hoping to deliver from my end and really wanted to make myself and the Collect team proud! Once it was installed, and going by the reaction of the passers-by, I knew it would be ok! Owing to the fact that the tapestry was suspended across the room, it was the only piece in the space, and was situated at one of the entrance points. As a result, the feedback was absolutely amazing!
My work was sitting with some of the most coveted and respected artists and craftspeople in the world and it held its own. In turn, it was chosen as one of the 'Top 20' pieces by the fair's media partner, The World of Interiors.
The advice I got from Caroline and Isobel regarding the pricing and placing for my the piece, and getting over my 'imposter syndrome' was invaluable. The incredible support from the Collect team; Sarah, Nico, Maia, Debika and the technicians, was spot on.
Were there any unexpected results from being part of Collect Open?
There were several! Let me bullet point some of them:
- Being selected as one of the 'Top 20' out of 100s of exhibitors throughout the fair by the editor of The World of Interiors
- A Nigerian textile artist gave me such amazingly positive feedback, and she was from a family of generational textile artists
- Gaylene Gould, the podcaster from Serpentine Gallery, said she is a fan
- An auctioneer from Christie's said she came to the show specifically to see my piece
- So many Instagram stories with my piece were featured as highlights, alongside some really well known artists
- Being interviewed by many journalists and having to pose for photos
- Arts Council England selectors spoke to me and said that they were proud to have supported this piece
- An arts consultant took my details on behalf of a collector from New York
- Being one of three on the panel discussion, as part of the Collect Talks Programme, with Caroline - which was very well attended
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone considering applying?
I would recommend going ahead with your Collect Open application. The form itself is straight forward, but it’s useful to take help from tools like ChatGPT before adding your finishing touches. Be ambitious with your proposal piece and practical with the steps you need to take to make that happen. There is no denying that taking part is an investment, but the number of people who will end up seeing your work and following your practice, along with the conversations and networks you will build in the five days, far outweigh the cost of the event. It should be treated as an investment in your practice. Many of my Collect Open cohort had other successes. These included the V&A acquiring a piece of their work, selling to collectors, or winning awards at the fair.
Thanks so much!
The deadline for applications to Collect Open 2025 is Monday 24 June, 09.00. Please see link below for further information.