Shruti Gaonkar (born 1984, Mumbai India) is an artist, architect and performer committed to public participatory practice through workshop and collaboration. Currently based in Mumbai her research explores themes of post-colonial feminism and embodied archive, exposing voids left by systematic erasures in post-colonial spaces and memories.

Shruti uses meditative practices that include knitting and sewing, often working with found textiles, indigo dye, writing and sound to build installations, performances and soft sculptural totems. Through these forms she works with the texture of corporeal vulnerabilities, anchored by questions around care. Her use of natural indigo dye is as a portal for enquiry into contemporary fast fashion, consumption, global textile trade, material heritage, memory, ritual, colonial exploitation and voices of resistance. Through this process she also experiments with cyanotype printing.

These blueprints of practice flatten time, boundaries and meanings into fluid space that builds speculative story telling on land, climate, rituals, gender, identity, body and migrations.

Currently based in Mumbai (India), Shruti has lived and practiced on three continents, influenced by traversing manifold cultural experiences. As a neurodiverse woman of colour she is interested in mobilising her art practice as a vehicle to reach out, building connections to empower and open dialogues across diverse communities through shared playful making. She is also part of the Campervan Collective, a group of artists creating inclusive public participatory workshops, activities and exhibitions.

Curriculum Vitae

2024