Ayesha Singh's works investigate evidences of colonialism and hierarchy embedded in architectural pastiches that construct our cities and homes. Through photography, drawing, video and installation, and an emphasis on movement and displacement; her works question social  hierarchies, political agendas and subconscious value systems placed on ornamentation, design and material.

Once a building has been constructed, designed, ideated, allotted, what is the experience of the individual? Singh's recent work questions the spectacle of power architecture has provided systemic oppressors. Currently in collaboration with political scientist, Elizabeth Davies, she is working on an Arts, Science & Culture Initiative Grant project on the connotations of the façade in state architecture in New Delhi, India and Eastman, Georgia, USA. With neo-classical architectural tropes adopted in these cities as potent signifiers of political authority, the project presents a global insistence of hierarchy through architecture and the imposition of standardizing a norm. 

Material and scale play a significant role in examining the malleability of public and private space in both its physical and illusory presentations. Singh's hand caresses ornamentation on columns through videos. The viewer walks through sculptural-drawings suspended in a space that embody forms of hybrid structures. The works explore notions of authenticity, authority and agency in relation to belonging and permanence.



Born in New Delhi (1990), Ayesha Singh is currently based in Chicago pursuing an MFA in Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago(SAIC), USA. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Sculpture, from the Slade School of Fine Art (2013) and received a diploma in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, UK (2010). She has exhibited solo shows at the Gujral Foundation, New Delhi, India (2017); Exhibit320, New Delhi, India (2016); and has participated in several group shows including Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (2017); Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India (2017); Hyde Park Art Centre, Chicago, USA (2017); IGNCA, New Delhi, India (2015); Casa de Dona Gisele, Curitiba, Brazil (2015); GallerySke, New Delhi, India (2014); University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (2014); and Reading University, Reading, UK (2013). Singh is the recipient of the Arts, Science & Culture Initiative Grant from the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, along with the Leadership Award Honorary Mention, Dean's Professional Development Award and the International Student Scholarship, all from SAIC, USA.