Trupti Patel

Trupti Patel (b. 1957) was born in Nairobi, Kenya and studied sculpture in India and the UK. Patel works predominantly in clay, often using Indian terracotta which has a rich red colour when fired. Her sensuous and sensitive ceramic sculptures regularly depict the female form and question the role of women in the family and society.

‘Looking at Her’ (1995) is an unconventional statue of a woman, in which her different body parts – hands, knees, breasts – are detached from one another and separated into their own rectangular boxes. All of them protrude from their niches except her face, which is a void. It is a comment on the often depersonalised representation of women in art and culture.