Sanchita Islam (1973, Manchester)

Sanchita Islam is an English artist, writer and film maker living and working in Brussels. After completing her BSc and MSc at the London School of Economics in 1996, she was sponsored by Channel 4 to attend a MA at the Northern Media School in Directing and Screenwriting, which she completed in 1998. The following year she then enrolled in the BA in Fine Art Practice and Theory of Visual Art at the Chelsea School of Art and Design which she attended until the second year. In 1998 she took part in the 000 group show at the Whitechapel Gallery, where she has also been Artist in Residence between 2003 and 2004. In 1999, she founded Pigment Explosion, a non-profit art organisation specializing in international multimedia projects. From 2004 and 2008, Sanchita was Artist in Residence at the Open Gallery. She has been working extensively with the medium of Video Painting, filming her work in New York, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Barcelona and Miami.

Sanchita’s Video Painting production is very diverse in its content, spanning from rural and urban scapes to natural imageries characterised by strong visual impact. In works such as Jungle Geometry, Flow and Electric Sea the focus on natural pattern and geometric details creates compelling rhythmic compositions tending towards abstraction. The reflection of light onto natural and artificial surfaces is another recurrent element in her work, which multiplies layers and perspectives into distorted, dream-like visions.

Sanchita is currently involved with campaigning globally for better mental health, already presenting her book/film/art related to mental health, via the British Council in Burma, Bangladesh and Malaysia. She exhibited at the Houses of Parliament on 6th June 2016 in collaboration with the 1001 First Critical Days campaign and she is due to speak about mental health at the Houses of Parliament again in December 2016.

She has been filming and exhibiting internationally, selected exhibitions include Malaysian Mental Health Association, Kuala Lumpur (2016), Tomorrow’s Child, Houses of Parliament, London (2016), House of Lords, London (2016), I Remember Srebrenica, Barking Learning Centre, London (2015), British Council, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2015), Return to Sender, WIELS, Contemporary Art Centre, Project Room, Brussels (2014), 13th Dhaka International Film Festival, Dhaka Bangladesh (2014), Rich Mix, London (2013), Oitij-jo Bargehouse, London (2013), Violence on Trial, Resistance Gallery, London (2011), UK Film Council, London (2010), While Rome Burns, The Queen’s Elm Gallery, London (2009), Rich Mix, London (2009), National Arts Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan (2008), Sketch, London (2007), Future Cities, Hayward Gallery, London (2007), Arts Pavillion, Millenium Park, London (2006), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2006), L’Espace Des Blancs Manteaux, Paris (2005), British Council, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2004), 9th International Film Festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2002), Egizio’s Project, 596 Broadway, New York (2001), Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park, London (2001), Avivson Gallery, Paris (2001), 000 exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, London (1999)

"Light and movement that is not repetitive and varied, is a consistent obsession for me." Sanchita Islam

Click to view Islam's Nomad.