Shrine Empire Gallery

Bio CV Exhibitions

Forms for Letting Sand Through, 1987
Vertical Landscape, 1987
Beam, 2019
Enclosure squirrel's pawprint

EDUCATION 2016 PhD Goldsmiths, University of London, Educational Studies 1994-96 MPhil History of Art, University of Glasgow 1980-81 Postgraduate Art Teachers’ Certificate, University of London Institute of Education 1976-80 BA Honours West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, UK 1976 Painting studies with Marguerite Seippel, Geneva, Switzerland 1971-76 The International School of Geneva, International Baccalaureate 1965-71 State Primary Schools and United Nations International School, New York SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND EXHIBITIONS CONCEIVED AND LED BY RT Upcoming December 2025 Solo exhibition painting, ceramics and installation at Shrine Empire, New Delhi 2005 The Burrell Collection, Glasgow -The Potter’s Mirror, photography and ceramics responding to Iznik collection residency and curation of public participants’ work 2002 Tramway, Glasgow- Talacchanda, with Bharata Natyam dance by Anjana Rajan 2001 Out of the Blue, Edinburgh- Talacchanda 2000 British Council Queen’s Gallery, New Delhi - Talacchanda 1987 Solo exhibition Sakshi Gallery, Chennai 1986 Solo exhibition Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai 1985 Solo exhibition Art Heritage, New Delhi 1984 Solo exhibition Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi ART COLLABORATIONS 2023 ‘Sound Seed’ II- The Seedling’s Tale, performance with sound by Paul Hyland, Platform, Glasgow 2022 ‘Sound Seed’ I- performance with Hamshya Rajkumar, Botanic Gardens Dundee, for The Ignorant Art School Sit in #2, 12-Hour Revel, Cooper Gallery, University of Dundee SELECTED GROUP SHOWS 1997 ‘Salt Doll’, sculpture, A Gift for India, touring exhibition of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust 1994 Ceramic sculptures, Elements of Change, touring exhibition of the Arts Council of Scotland 1992/ 1990/ 1989 Paintings, Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1991 Paintings, Galerie Dagmar, London 1990 Painting, Broadgate Art Week, organised by the Whitechapel Art Gallery 1988 Installation, II Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal 1987 Installation, VIth International Triennale India, New Delhi 1980 Ceramic sculptures, Society of Designer Craftsmen, Mall Gallery, London CONFERENCE PAPERS /PUBLIC TALKS/ WORKSHOPS 2024 Lecture workshop series ‘Present’-ing the Future / Recognizing the Past - A four-part immersion into historical and cultural themes in Debjani Banerjee’s Jalsaghar. With guest artist collaborators for each talk. CCA, Glasgow Workshop ‘I Do Nothing’ in collaboration with flautist Dr Diljeet Kaur Bhachu, CCA Glasgow for Body Remedy Programme 2024, founded by Mele Broomes 2023 Paper and Conversation with Olivier Marboeuf, on ‘Curatorial ecosystems, alternative art pedagogies and transformative collective agency’, a trans-disciplinary event at Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, organised by The Ignorant Art School Collective, a research group of the British Art Network. In-conversation event with The Otolith Group (Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar) ‘Thinking the Otolith Sigil’. Cooper Gallery Dundee, opening of Sit-in #3 of the Ignorant Art School by The Otolith Group. 2022 Talk and workshop ‘A Stillness Class- The Consciousness of Doing’ for The Ignorant Art School Sit in #2, University of Dundee Cooper Gallery, June 2022 2021 Paper ‘Differentiating between unity and uniformity- a proposal for pedagogy of mutuality in our splintered times’, for Hybrid Spaces: re-imagining pedagogy, practice and research, annual conference of the International Journal of Art and Design Education 2020 Talk and workshop-‘The Self that Cannot be Othered- the power of the past in the present’ for ‘What’s Ahead What’s Known’ exhibition, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow 2017/2018/2019 Discussion panels- Africa in Motion Film Festival, Glasgow- ‘Concerning Violence’ (Göran Olsson 2014), ‘Black Skin, White Masks’ (Isaac Julien 2015), ‘Operation Legacy’ (Olivia Windham Lewis 2012) 2017 Talk and workshop- ‘Voice and Culture: building reflective practices’- Master class for visiting South Korean performance companies Heung, JDC&Next, All Rounderz during Xnational Xarts Xchange with students of Digital Art and Theatre at the University of the West of Scotland 2012 Paper and dialogue with Christine Battersby- ‘Crossing Cultures in “Fleshy Metaphysics”’ at Engendering Dialogue III: Feminist Philosophy and Pedagogy, three- part conference, University of Dundee 2011 Paper ‘Freedom and Compassion in the Arts Curriculum’, annual conference of the International Journal of Art Design Education, University of Chester 2010 Paper ‘Towards a Curriculum of Consciousness’, 2010 Canada International Conference on Education, Toronto 2008 Paper ‘Love, Truth and the Goddess: the significance in postmodern times of the dualist nature of human perception in Yoruba and Hindu thought’, Association for Cultural Studies, 7th International Crossroads Conference, University of the West Indies, Jamaica 2006 /2007 Papers, Strathclyde University Centre for Gender Studies- Moving Stories seminars on Scottish migration histories 2005 Paper ‘Sringara Rasa in Indian Aesthetic Theory’, at conference The Sacred and the Feminine, Centre for Art Theory History (CentreCATH), University of Leeds 2003 Participation- Arts Council of England ‘Interrupt’ series of symposia on socially engaged art practice, Goldsmiths College Forum 2002 Paper- Strathclyde University , Gender Culture Power conference 2001 Research and curation, exhibition of Madhubani Paintings of Bihar for Inspirations Festival, The Arches, Glasgow 2000 IT and Higher Art workshop series -‘Somewhere Over the Showcase’, National Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. Presented with William Nelson at Beyond Multiculturalism conference, Moray House Institute of Education, Edinburgh 1995 Paper, Strathclyde Teachers Advisory Service on strategies for enhancing pupil skills and Inclusive art education 1994 Paper ‘Lampshades and Legends’, conference on issues in inter-cultural education Different Perspectives, Bretton Hall University College Leeds 1989-95 Talks and workshops linked with exhibitions-Whitechapel Art Gallery and Camden Art Centre, London; Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Fruitmarket Gallery and Dean Gallery, Edinburgh TEACHING /LECTURING Freelance since 2020 2025 Research presentation, University of Edinburgh Celtic and Scottish Studies Research Seminar Series ‘Education as Mutual Translation -reflections on a research project and the elasticity of knowledge’ 2022 Guest lecture, University of Toronto Department of Philosophy, ‘Self- knowledge and the unity of differentiation, or, when leaves spin’ as part of postgraduate seminar led by Jonardon Ganeri. 2020 Online Course, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, as part of Free School set up during Covid 19 pandemic. ‘Contemporary Contexts for Yoruba and Ancient Indian Ideas on Space, Creativity and Self’ 2018 -20 Glasgow School of Art, Lecturer Master of Fine Art 2010-2018 GSA, Programme Leader Master of Research in Creative Practices 2000-2014 GSA, Lecturer Forum for Critical Inquiry 2000-10 GSA, Academic Researcher School of Design 1994-99 GSA, Tutor of Ceramics 1990-92 London Borough of Lambeth, Tutor, adult education ceramics 1988-89 London Borough of Harrow, Art teacher, Canons High School 1986-87 The British School, New Delhi, Art teacher, Advanced Level 1983-84 Gyan Bharati School, New Delhi, Art teacher PEDAGOGIC COLLABORATIONS / RESIDENCIES/ FUNDING AWARDS 2017 ‘Voice and Culture: building reflective practices’- Xnational Xarts Xchange. Master class for visiting South Korean performance companies Heung, JDC&Next, All Rounderz with students of Digital Art and Theatre at the University of the West of Scotland 2006 Creative collaborator, ‘The Tempest’ for Shakespeare in the City Festival, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 2005 Artist-in-Residence, the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, culminating in The Potter’s Mirror exhibition 2002-03 Scottish Arts Council National Lottery, and Glasgow City Council funding for Talacchanda Exhibition and Education Project 1989-90 Artist-in-Residence, Clapham Pool Arts Workshop, London 1990 Artist-in-Residence, Holloway Boys School, London 1987 Workshop of traditional potters and contemporary ceramists, Baroda, India 1985-86 Research Grant, Lalit Kala Akademi- developing high temperature building clay from local materials for ceramic sculpture PUBLICATIONS 2024 ‘The Consciousness of Doing’ essay commissioned by Wassili Widmer for Going Goes By, Ed. Daryl Schiltknecht and Wassili Widmer, Vexer Verlag, St Gallen CH and Berlin, pp 28-52 ‘On the Brink’- Letter from Delhi February -May 2024 in Art Monthly 478, July/August 2024, pp 39-41 ‘Pedagogies of Transmission in “ ...But There Are New Suns”: The Ignorant Art School Sit-in #3 with The Otolith Group’ in Third Text Online, 14 February 2024 2023 ‘The Fish That Flew Through Time and Other Stories’ Mrin Journal of Indian Ceramic Art, Issue 2, 2023 Review of Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different, National Gallery London in Art Monthly Issue 466, May 2023 pp 28-29 2022 Film Review, Yellow Fever (Sooun Kim 2019) in NOWNESS Experiments, NOWNESS Asia, June 2022 2022 In conversation with Ashanti Harris on the historical and cultural contexts of Dancing a Peripheral Quadrille, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Edinburgh 2021 ‘The Shoes at my Door’ a reflection on hauntology and African presence in the Caribbean and diaspora, in ‘Jumbies’. Commissioned by Panel for Glasgow International 2020 which was postponed till 2021 2020 Film Review, ‘Certainty and its Refractions in Ayla Dmyterko’s Solastalgic Soliloquy’, MAP, Issue 58, June 2020 2019 ‘Expanding the Curriculum’ in Art Monthly No. 432, Dec /Jan 2019-20, pp 6-9 ‘Finding the Self in the City of Multitudes’ in Resilience and the City- Art, Education, Urbanism, ELIA, Amsterdam, pp. 143-152 2018 Book: Education as Mutual Translation- A Yoruba and Vedantic Interface for Pedagogy in the Creative Arts, Brill, NL., 291 pages 2010 ‘Towards a Curriculum of Consciousness’- online publication of conference proceedings of the 2010 Canada International Conference on Education. (No longer available) 2007 ‘The Feminist Call of the Spiritual/ Erotic Impulse in Indian Art’ chapter eight in The Sacred and the Feminine-Imagination and Sexual Difference, eds. Griselda Pollock and Victoria Sauron, I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, pp 135-149. 2004 ‘Interdisciplinary approaches to anti-racist education, an introduction to the Talacchanda project’, in Journal of Art and Design Education Vol 23, issue 1, pp 42-68 2002 Talacchanda, Glasgow School of Art, exhibition catalogue with invited essays (Ed.) 2000 ‘Devi Prasad: The Culture of Making’ in Ceramic Review Issue 184 1994 ‘Lampshades and Legends’ in conference proceedings of Different Perspectives, Bretton Hall University College, Leeds 1990 ‘Kashmiri Woodcrafts’ co- authored chapter in Crafts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, ed. Jaya Jetley, Mapin Publications, Ahmedabad 1989 ‘Aaj ke Sambandh Me Mritika Shilpa’ in Adhunik Kala Kosh ed. Vinod Bharadwaj, Sanjeev Prakashan, New Delhi 1984-85 Articles in arts columns of magazines Dinmaan, Link, and the Art Heritage catalogue series

Ranjana Thapalyal is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer and educator based in Scotland, UK. Over a long career in India and the UK, her visual art practice has taken several distinct forms responding to environment and the changing contexts of her life. These include ceramics, painting, mixed media ephemeral assemblages, text and collaborative performance. A constant thread has been an intuitive leaning towards art practice as philosophical reflection on the nature of time, and the metaphysical self.

Growing up in India, the U.S. and Switzerland, she studied ceramics at the institution now known as the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, England. Shortly after, she moved to Delhi and had her first solo exhibition at the Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi 1984 which was soon followed by solo shows at Art Heritage 1985, Cymroza Gallery, Mumbai 1986, and Sakshi Gallery, Chennai 1987. Thapalyal’s work was selected for the India section of the VIth Triennale India in 1987, and the IInd Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal 1988. She had several works in The Sculpted Image- a Panorama of Contemporary Indian Sculpture Nehru Centre, Mumbai 1987, and Indian Women Sculptors at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, also in 1987. In later years, having moved back to the UK, she was invited to send a work for the 1997 mail art exhibition A Gift for India, presented by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust to mark 50 years of Indian independence.

On returning to the UK, Thapalyal turned instinctively to painting as a way of recalling the light and saturated colours that she had come to take for granted in India. In the 1990s her paintings were critically noted in several Whitechapel Opens held at the Whitechapel Gallery, London and. In 2000 she brought a new body of work to Delhi, Talacchanda- the Rhythm of the Plan, shown at the British Council Gallery, subsequently touring it to Out of the Blue, Edinburgh 2001 and Tramway, Glasgow 2002. In 2005 she was artist-in residence at the Burrell Collection, Glasgow working with the Iznik ceramics collection. This culminated in The Potter's Mirror, an exhibition within the Burrell, that included her own photography and sculpture alongside the creations of workshop participants from across the city, contextualised by several pieces from the museum archives.

Currently the third iteration of Thapalyal ’s text and collaborative performance series Sound-Seed is in progress. A reflection on the nature of language and sound, the work brings together many aspects of her creative output. Earlier versions were commissioned for Cooper Gallery, Dundee and Platform, Glasgow.

Thapalyal’s recent critical writing can be found in Third Text Online, Art Monthly, ELIA 15, MAP, Nowness Asia, Mrin and in her book, Education as Mutual Translation, a Yoruba and Ancient Indian Interface for Pedagogy in the Creative Arts (Brill 2018).

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