‘Illuminating India‘ is a season of two major exhibitions, specially commissioned artworks and high-profile events launching during the British Council UK/India 2017 year: a celebration of the long-standing relationship between the UK and India which will see cultural events, exhibitions and activities taking place in both countries. It tells the stories of the Indian innovators and thinkers who have often been overlooked or written out of Western narratives of history.
Artist Chila Kumari Burman has been commissioned by the Science Museum to create a series of artworks responding to the theme of Illuminating India and to the objects and stories in the exhibition 5000 Years of Science and Innovation. Entitled ‘India Illuminated!’, her work consists 29 pieces of artwork of which challenges stereotypical assumptions of South Asia and includes Direct to Media UV prints on gold Dibond.
India Illuminated!
4 October 2017 – 31 March 2018
Level 2, Science Museum
Exhibition Road
South Kensington, London
SW7 2DD
Visit The Science Museum Website
About Chila:
Brought up in Liverpool and educated at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, Chila Kumari Burman has worked experimentally across printmaking, painting, sculpture, photography and film since the mid-1980s. She draws on fine and pop art imagery in intricate multi-layered works which explore Asian feminism and her personal family history, and where Bollywood bling merges with childhood memories.
Chila often uses everyday materials in her work, giving new meaning to items which others may see as worthless, cheap or kitsch. Burman’s work is held in a number of public and private collections including Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wellcome Collection in London, Arts Council, British Council and Devi Foundation in New Delhi.