Anupama Alias

Anupama Alias born in 1990 is a visual artist based in Kerala, India. She has completed her MFA (Applied Arts) from Govt. RLV College Thripunithura, Kochi and MFA (Painting) from SN School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad.

Anupama focuses on depicting women at a transitional and vulnerable time in their lives: not the adolescent years that have been the focus of her works in the past few years, but the other transitional, in-between years: the ‘middle’ years. In a macro-metaphor, her work focuses on people, transitions, identity, and the ‘in-betweenness’ of existence. Anupama tries to unravel the implied desires and fluctuations of identity that womanhood has thrust upon her. The idea is to not just focus on the universality of womanhood but get to the essence of being a girl first, and a woman later. The intriguing reason behind how Eve was made from Adam’s rib became the genesis of her work whereby she began exploring the human anatomy. The rib cage becomes the spine of Anupama’s works, which allowed her to examine other body parts, something that helped her embark on a metaphysical journey of self-discovery.

Anupama is a recipient of the Sankara Menon Memorial Gold Medal, Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala (2016), the Special Mention Award by Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi (2018) and a Diamond Jubilee Fellowship from the Department of Cultural Affairs, Kerala (2019). She has participated in several shows and displayed her art at various prestigious exhibitions.

Her recent participations include Delhi Contemporary Art Week with LATITUDE 28, Bikaner House, New Delhi (2021); ‘Residues’ curated by Reha Sodhi in collaboration with LATITUDE 28, and Delhi Contemporary Art Week, Bikaner House, New Delhi (2021).

Her exhibit with us is titled The Island of Curiosities a mixed medium on paper made in 2021.