Hasseena Suresh

Hasseena Suresh is a contemporary Indian artist known for her sculptures. She was born in Kerala,
Changanacherry, in 1968.
Hasseena started off her artistic career with clay as her primary medium, spending her time working
closely with local potters, ceramic students, designers, and architects. The primary focus of her
work is an urgent need to interrogate the patriarchal structures that persist in Indian society and the
world today. Coming from a liberally minded middle class Muslim family, Hasseena’s
understanding of how the world should be and how she saw the world around her growing up
demonstrated a clear dissonance that revealed the material and social conditions of the women in
her life, and subsequently women the world over. She has since striven to use her work to explore
these themes of gender based struggled.
Her work also reflects an interest in ancient history, architecture, climate change, and gardening.
She interweaves her many interests and channels them into her process, creating a body of work
informed by the condition of women across space and time. Her sculptures display a commitment to
experimentation, an exploration of socio-political issues from a feminist perspective, and a
dedication to creating a new visual language.
Hasseena’s intellectual and artistic interests has been the core focus of her studio, Clayfingers Pottery, nestled in a re-purposed century old tile factory. The studio is home to a large working
space for students and other artists. The space is surrounded by a lush food forest, cultivated by
Hasseena and her team over more than a decade, bringing new life to a once barren land,
as well as creating a micro-climate for the local ecosystem.
Hasseena’s sculpture work best expresses her personal experience. She trained in sculpture and clay
portraits under late Prof. Sarbari Roy Choudary at Shantiniketan’s Visva Bharati University, where
she completed her MA in Sculpture in 1997. Earlier, she completed a Bachelor’s in Fine Art at the
Trivandrum College of Fine Arts in 1994, where she began to work with sculpture, poetry, theatre,
and architecture.