Alka Mathur is a visual artist who works with mixed media. Earth matter, time, divine feminine energy, memory, maternal and intergenerational histories are themes which inspire and preoccupy her, permeating her practice in diverse ways. Nature plays a significant role in the artist’s work and the contours and cracks of the parched land of her home Rajasthan, have always found their way into her relationship with material. Using natural dyes, earth pigments and found objects, Alka’s work blurs the line between traditional and contemporary. Primarily abstract in nature the torn, burnt and frayed edged paper, canvas or cloth, dyed and stained are outpourings where inner journeys, places and memories overlap. The running stitch is an integral motif, representing the meditative, repetitive process analogous to the everyday rituals of women reworking old pieces of cloth. Her work on used tea bags are both anecdotal and autobiographical - archiving the ordinary, everyday happenings where the artist presents herself in fragments, while also encouraging the viewer to become a participant.
Her more recent work further engages natural materials such as making earth color from grinding stones and drawing tools from twigs and grasses. Her close observations of nature look at the micro universe of seeds, pieces of bark and other natural processes of which she makes drawings and photographs. Alka also embeds natural objects and other ephemera that she collects into paper pulp to retain and hold their memory.
She has held solo and group shows in India and abroad, including Bangladesh, UK and The US. Some prominent shows include exhibitions at Gallery 47-A, Mumbai (2024), Visual Arts Gallery, IHC, Delhi (2018), The Bikaner House, Delhi (2016); Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center (2012); Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland (2013); Nehru Center, London (2011). Alka was an artist in residence at The Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US (2006) and Cleveland, US (2013). Her works are in several public and private collections in India and abroad.
Her more recent work further engages natural materials such as making earth color from grinding stones and drawing tools from twigs and grasses. Her close observations of nature look at the micro universe of seeds, pieces of bark and other natural processes of which she makes drawings and photographs. Alka also embeds natural objects and other ephemera that she collects into paper pulp to retain and hold their memory.
She has held solo and group shows in India and abroad, including Bangladesh, UK and The US. Some prominent shows include exhibitions at Gallery 47-A, Mumbai (2024), Visual Arts Gallery, IHC, Delhi (2018), The Bikaner House, Delhi (2016); Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center (2012); Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland (2013); Nehru Center, London (2011). Alka was an artist in residence at The Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US (2006) and Cleveland, US (2013). Her works are in several public and private collections in India and abroad.