Hasseena Suresh
1968
Hasseena Suresh is a contemporary Indian artist known for her evocative sculptural practice rooted in clay and stoneware. Her work interrogates the persistence of patriarchal structures in India and globally, drawing from her lived experience growing up in a liberally minded middle-class Muslim family and observing the dissonance between her ideals and the social realities of women’s lives. Through her sculptures, Suresh explores themes of gender-based struggles, feminist narratives, and the complex intersections of personal memory and collective history.
Her practice is deeply informed by her interest in ancient history, architecture, climate change, and gardening. She interweaves these influences into her process, creating a body of work that reflects the condition of women across time and geography while embracing experimentation and socio-political engagement. Suresh primarily works with high-fire glazed stoneware, producing sculptures that merge research, storytelling, and a commitment to sustainable material practices. Her work is closely intertwined with the ethos of her studio, Clayfingers Pottery, housed in a repurposed century-old tile factory. The studio also functions as a pedagogical and ecological space, surrounded by a thriving food forest cultivated over a decade, embodying her dedication to sustainability and community engagement.
Suresh studied under the late Prof. Sarbari Roy Choudary at Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Sculpture (1997), following her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Trivandrum College of Fine Arts (1994). After two decades of working abroad, she returned to India to expand her studio practice and continues to explore the narrative and material possibilities of clay in bold new directions. Her solo exhibition include, ‘Human Geometry,’ Kashi Art Café, Fort Kochi, Kerala (2024). She has also participated in several notable group exhibitions, including, ‘Contextual Cosmologies,’ Keraleeyam, Trivandrum, Kerala (2023–2024); ‘In the Dusky Path of a Dream,’ Rizq Art Initiative, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2023–2024); ‘Hold the Dandelions, There is No One to Be Found,’ Gallery 27, Fort Kochi, Kerala (2024); and ‘Composite Images,’ David Hall, Fort Kochi, Kerala (2025).
