Sayan Chanda (UK Associate) reimagines votive objects, folk divinities, and mythic narratives as hybrid, ambiguous forms shaped by lived experience and framed through identity and postcolonial theory. Working intuitively with fibre and clay through weaving, stitching, quilting, dyeing and hand-building, he creates work that inhabits a speculative terrain untethered from place, culture or period. His practice often returns to the idea of domesticity, where notions of defence and protection permeate the work as his references and materials move fluidly between the domestic and the communal.
During his residency at Delfina Foundation, Sayan will reflect on the idea of ‘remnants’– materials left behind by making processes and rituals, or, in the sense of archaeological remains, the objects and architectures of another time. Working within the core context of his practice, he imagines a series of woven explorations, concurrent with continued research into marginalised deities.
Sayan received his bachelor’s degree in textile design from the National Institute of Design, India, in 2013 and an MFA from the University of Arts, London, in 2021. His work has been exhibited in shows internationally, including: De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (2026); 6th Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2025-26); Cample Line, Scotland (2025); Green Art Gallery, Dubai (2024); British Textile Biennial (2023); Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2022); Commonage Projects, London (2022); Saatchi Gallery, London (2021); South London Gallery, London (2021) and Nature Morte, New Delhi (2021).
Sayan was born in India and is currently based in the UK.
With support from:
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Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.