Artist Statement:

While navigating a neocolonial world with enduring power structures, my work focuses on loosening the exertion of force on oneself, others, and the landscape with which we coexist. I do this by untangling the ways in which we learn the parasitic roots of power through formal and societal education. I challenge perception shaped by classification, recalling visual markers of power to disrupt ingrained habits - like thinking within the ruled increments of my childhood notebooks, a structure echoing control. I seek to unmake sets of micro-habits that continue the propagation of colonial thought. I hope that my work will pave a path for reconciliation with our histories and a renewed relationship with how we treat each other and the environment we occupy.

Honored to be listed among Artdose’s Artists to watch in 2026 alongside Bryana Bibbs, Geornica Daniels, Melissa Scherrer Paré, Brandom Terres-Sanchez, Lillian Supanich, Kaden Van De Loo, Michael Ware, Cassandra Xiong, and Carina Yepez.

One of my favorites from the show @arkfoundation_

Open until 24th October

Inward Spiral, 2025, from the series Glyphs of a Temporal Landscape, raw clay, inkjet print on transparency, terra cotta, pit fired terra cotta, steel, 7 x 9 x 4.5 in.

Once alive, 2025, from the series Glyphs of a Temporal Landscape, dried phalaenopsis orchid, porcelain, mica (Noresund, NO), fossil rocks, geode (Steuben, USA), Common wolf snake skin (Panchgani, IN), laser print on transparency, stoneware, murud she

The work behind the work that holds the work 👻
And the many hands and minds that the work touches

For all the ones that survived there was always one that didn’t. Sadly this one collapsed on my way to the kiln. Waiting to get back to making so I can try my hand at it again.

I was amazed with what the clay could do for this one. So amazed that it stayed in one piece before the firing and after. I want to say that the trick in making work is about using the right technique and developing skill but really it’s more a

जागती आँखें / Waking Eyes
2025
Terra cotta, brass, copper and light
3 x 6.5 x 6 inches

The shape of seeing is the shape of my eye 
Why then are my memories recalled in rectangles? 
I think through the frames in which I see regularly
I see them inform the formats in which I think, 
Each habit shaping the other

Echoes is a new

Earlier this year in Taiwan, I joined a pit firing at @fly311017’s studio. I made the piece with a mixture of commercial and local clay, experimented with creating strength but still coiling thin, sourced ash for glaze making and assembled new

An exhibition of the work I made as part of the Jyotsna Bhatt Ceramics Award opened at Ark Foundation. I've been laying low in the studio - taking this opportunity to experiment with understanding porcelain, terra cotta, wild clay and locally sourced

Small and big moments from Taiwan: Part 2

1. Making pickled Plum’s at @yinggeceramicsmuseum with @zoepowellceramics
2. Processing local clay
3. Pot shaped doors 🫶
4. Wood shaped tea pots @teapotami 🫖
5. Shaping plates
6. Visting Firing kil

Small and big moments from Taiwan - Part 1

1. A piece from @yinggeceramicsmuseum ‘s collection
2. The many versions do tofu cookout with @iris_listener and friends
3. Tainan Confucius temple
4. Mind blown Arting with @iris_listener
5. Roads

I didn’t realize how much I needed a shift in perspective until I arrived at the Yingge Ceramics Museum for a residency earlier this year. It’s easy to get stuck seeing the world through the lenses of the places and cultures I frequent. Y

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐝 – 𝐔𝐩𝐨𝐧
Now installed at the 53rd Street viaduct in Hyde Park, Chicago

Clay against skin,
skin against air,
hands upon hands.
A moment of contact—not fixed in time,
not solely mine.

This work lives in the question:
Who ma

The first time I was able to give these piece their own space, I was amazed at how they were able to create breath and a subtle feeling of a moment between life and death. The installation at the India Art Fair brought together different bodies of wo

Some parts of my work at India Art Fair.

Glyphs of a temporal landscape is an ongoing series that is a collection of found and made objects. The piece are put together in response to site and the moment. These specific pieces were created from a sp

Leaving Delhi with a full heart after meeting so many friends - new and old, meeting some of my hero’s, and sharing my work with such keen eyes. Thanks to everyone who stopped by—it was a joy to share this experience with you.

@indiaartf

I’m exhibiting a couple of new pieces as part of a show titled ‘Entre Ritos Y Portales’ curated by Sofía Gabriel @sofiagc0. The show opens @coprosperitychicago on December 6th, 6-9pm with performances during the opening rece

About Kushala Vora

Kushala Vora is a visual artist and organizer working in sculpture, drawing, and installation. She is based out of Panchgani, India and Chicago, USA. Through her practice, she focuses on loosening the exertion of power on oneself, others, and the landscape with which we coexist.

Kushala was name one of 2026’s artists to watch by Artdose magazine. She was awarded the 2024 Jyotsna Bhatt Ceramics Award and was named one of 2023’s Breakout Artists by Newcity Magazine. She has been an artist-in-residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Drawing, Yingge Ceramics Museum (Taiwan), Hyde Park Art Center, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Shillim Institute (India), Søndre Green Farm (Norway), and ACRE Residency. Her work has been exhibited at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (Sonoma, CA), Indian Ceramics Triennale 2024 (New Delhi,India), Bikaner House (New Delhi, India), Engage Projects (Chicago, IL), Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL), Museum of Fine Arts (Nagoya, Japan), Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), among others.

She received her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds a postgraduate diploma in Modern and Contemporary Indian Art History and Curatorial Studies from Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai, India, and a BFA from Tufts University/SMFA, Boston. She is the co-founder of Atmo—a reading and praxis forum—and is an active contributor to Spaceshift Collective.

Curriculum Vitae (Download)

Hi there!
Please leave me a message if you are interested in my work, would like to collaborate or visit my studio.

Email: kushala.vora@gmail.com

Instagram: @kushalavora