Madi Acharya-Baskerville is a London based South Asian artist. She graduated with an MA in Fine Art at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. She has exhibited widely within the UK and abroad.  Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Whitworth and was on display in ‘Exchanges: Recent Additions to the Collection’ (2021–2022).  

She has been awarded DYCP Grant from Arts Council England (2021–22) for developing her practice in the context of museum collections. She has been selected for the 20/20 residency commission, supported by University of the Arts London, Decolonizing Institute (2022) and has recently been artist in residence at The Lightbox, Woking. She has also been selected for the First Plinth Award, Royal Society of Sculptors and has received The Primary Residency Prize following selection for New Art Exchange Open (2023). Her work has been selected for ‘ Fragments of Our Time’, Whitaker Museum as part of British Textile Biennial and ‘Stuff of Life/ Life of Stuff’ Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich (2023). 

Her solo exhibition ‘I Dream a Palace’ which showcases works created during the 20/20 residency has recently opened at the Lightbox, Woking. For this exhibition Madi Acharya-Baskerville has been awarded the National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England (2024).

The rationale behind choosing these particular images is that they are illustrative of the process of research and making work during the 20/20 residency, leading up to the final commission. As she became intrigued by particular aspects of the collection, Madi began to create my own versions of particular objects. Bartman 1–3, [1], [2] & [3] are inspired by a late 16th stoneware jug imported from Germany showing ‘Bartmann’ a bearded man.

The Palace’s toy horse [3] is inspired by a toy horse remnant excavated from the grounds of the former Woking Palace.

In images [3] and [4] she has been experimenting by placing fishing net debris with the ceramic pieces as she would like to explore combining ceramics with textiles.

Metal fragments, including a large key are part of the reserve collection at Heather Farm, a few miles away from the Lightbox gallery. Madi experimented with black clay to create small ceramic pieces as shown in [5] and [6].

Madi also felt drawn to the 15th century floor tiles from Valencia which are part of the Heritage collection at Woking Palace. These are plentiful in Woking palace but rare elsewhere in England. She initially made small water colour studies and then created sculptural forms based on these small studies. One of these is shown in [7]. 

There are many oyster shells in the Heritage collection and also in the reserve collection. Shellfish were important in diet in Tudor times and were found in the kitchen area in the grounds of Woking Palace. Madi worked with various community groups as part of this residency. She created 3 ceramic sculptures based on oyster shells. Image [8] shows one of these works, inspired by a student’s drawing based on Islamic architecture. Image [9] shows a small piece where she has experimented with porcelain and black clay to create layers and patterns seen in shells.

Photography by Chris Honeywell