Suchitra Mattai is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Suchitra was born in Guyana, South America, but has also lived in Halifax and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, New York City, Minneapolis, and Udaipur, India. These diverse natural and cultural environments have greatly influenced her work and research.
While her practice includes a wide range of materials and ideas, her primary interests include 1) the complex relationship between the natural and artificial worlds and 2) the questioning of historical and authoritative narratives, especially those surrounding colonialism. Through painting, fiber, drawing, collage, installation, video, and sculpture, she weaves narratives of “the other,” invoking fractured landscapes and reclaiming cultural artifacts (often colonial and domestic in nature).
“My paintings, drawings and installations center on the general themes of identity and globalization through the trope of landscape. Drawing from memory, history, travel, and pop-culture, I employ bright bold colors and patterns to ignite otherwise barren, abstract, and often highly conceptualized landscapes. While these landscapes are unpopulated, their mountains, oceans, plains, and cities often bear the trace of human activity. The embroidered elements allude to the work of the “other,” referencing the creations of “women” and “sweat-shop workers.”
Suchitra received an MFA in Painting and Drawing and an MA in South Asian art, both from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She has exhibited her work in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Denver, Austin, Berlin, London, and Wales and her work has appeared in various publications such as The Daily Serving (Mailee Hung), New American Paintings, and will be in a forthcoming book, “A Collection of Contemporary Women’s Voices on Guyana,” (Grace Anezia Ali, Brill Press)
Suchitra’s next projects include collaborations with the Denver Art Museum/SkyHouse, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and a traveling exhibition with the Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC. She recently completed a residency at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver, and is represented by K Contemporary Gallery Denver, and GrayDuck Gallery, Austin.
To learn more about www.suchitramattai.com/