Poojan Gupta
The question I continually respond to as an artist is how an ordinary object can be transformed into something special, and how everyday experiences acquire new meaning through the processes of art-making. I work with discarded empty pharmaceutical medical blister packs. Despite their facilitation of life-improving routines, they are, once emptied, discarded as waste (300 million tonnes are produced annually, with 50% ending up as landfill). However, each punctured empty pocket marks a moment in time, a temporal journey towards personal healing. I find this moving and this realisation has informed five years of my artistic experimentation.
Having accumulated a reserve of 3,50,000 discarded packs using informal networks in India and the UK (since 2020), I have been able to create large-scale sculptures using assemblage and installation techniques. In all these experiments the packaging becomes more than landfill - these disposable packets take on a significance of their own. There are aesthetic and ethical qualities that exceed their quotidian status, and I have developed this idea as the key component of my practice.
We are all subjects viewing objects and my use of blister packs attempts to understand not just how subjects transform objects, but also how objects then transform subjects. Moving from everyday experiences to the values of art and aesthetics my practice allows us to question what is actually 'there'. We are prompted for a closer, more provisional examination of ordinary objects like an empty blister pack—as sites of deeper meaning.
Recently, my association with Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies has had a significant impact on my interests. My practice has now begun to investigate how cultural ritualistic practices (such as votive offerings), spiritual beliefs, philosophy and theology, when combined with artistic interventions, can affect the mundane act of pill taking. I do not try to polarise opinion with direct action and political rhetoric, I use the medium of contemporary art practice to provide a fresh perspective on the traditional belief systems of India which, in turn, makes us think twice about throwing away empty blister packs. I find myself responding to the special feelings we have about art, rituals, and health. Ultimately, my aim is to traverse the boundaries between contemporary art practices, the politics of aesthetic feeling, traditional belief systems, the global anxieties generated by pharmaceutical waste, and everyday experiences of medication. I see my practice as a demand for a change in our sensibilities.
Currently, I am affiliated as a Member of Royal Society of Sculptors (MRSS), London and as an 'Associate Artist: Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies', Oxford, United Kingdom.
Education
2022 - 2024 MA Art and Science (MAAS) I Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London, UK I Distinction
2019 - 2021 Masters in Fine Art (MFA) I Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India I Gold Medalist
2020 - 2021 Certificate in Philosophy and Critical Thinking I The University of Queensland, Australia (hybrid) I Distinction
2015 - 2019 Bachelors of Visual Art (BVA) I The IIS University, Jaipur, India I Gold Medalist
2015 - 2017 Diploma in Applied Art I The IIS University, Jaipur, India I Distinction
2015 - 2016 Certificate in Event Management I The IIS University, Jaipur, India
Affiliations
July’24 – July’25 Member of Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship Council for Arts and Health, London, UK
May’24 – Present Member of Blue Whip I London, UK
Sep’23 – Present Member of Royal Society of Sculptors (MRSS) I London, UK
Sep’23 – Present Associate Artist: OCHS I Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford, UK
Residencies
March’25 – May'25 The Hugo Burge Foundation Residency I The Hugo Burge Foundation, Scotland
Feb’25 – March’25 International Artist Residency : La Napoule Art Foundation I Château de La Napoule, France
Aug’23 – Dec’23 Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship 2023 I Arts in Medicine Fellowship, Nigeria, Africa (accomplished in London)
July’23 – 1 week Jaywick Research Residency: a site-responsive residency I Commissioned by Essex County Council, England
May’23 – 1 mth London/Venice Exchange: an experiment in visual communication I Academy of Fine Arts,Venice X CSM, UK
Selected Exhibitions
2026 Jaipur Art Week I Public Arts Trust of India x Jaipur Art Week, Jaipur, India (upcoming)
India Art Fair I New Delhi, India (upcoming)
2025 Focus Art Fair I Saatchi Gallery, London UK (upcoming)
Art Mumbai I Mumbai, India (upcoming)
Triloka I Srishti Art, Hyderabad, India
Space Shifting I The Royal Over-Seas League, London, UK
Our Place I Studio Kind, Devon, UK
Refuse I Broadwick Studio, Canary Wharf London, UK
Our sincerest lies I KHOJ, International Artists’Association, New Delhi, India
Art for Hope 2025 I Hyundai Motor India Foundation, Travancore Palace, New Delhi, India
Fresh Produce 2.0 I Method, New Delhi, India
2024 Shelter I Bodements x Future Collective, Mumbai, India
Mātam-e Shehr-e Jānan I LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan
Imaginarium 4.0 I Emami Art, Kolkata, India
RA Summer Exhibition 2024 I Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Summer Show 2024 I Royal Society of Sculptors, London, UK
Making Expansive I Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK
Central Saint Martins Postgraduate Show I Central Saint Martins, UAL, London, UK
I, Present I Hypa Studios, London, UK
You’re Home I The Good Rice, London, UK
Emerging Palettes Edition 14 I Srishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India
Rolodex Imaginaries I The Wall North Contemporary, Northumberland, UK
The Entranced Essence I Rupturexibit, London, UK
All That Life Can Afford I Chelsea Arts Club, London, UK
Roolah, part of Side Show I Lethaby Gallery, London, UK
2023 Nazar, an exhibition in Hustle I The Ministry, London, UK (solo)
Institutional Fieldworking: CNoS@10 I Gallery North, Newcastle, UK
Bill of Health, Window Gallery I Central Saint Martins, London, UK
All Things Current Are Found I Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, UK
Come. Sit. Eat My Flesh I London Festival of Architecture I CSM, London, UK
An-X Pop-Up Exhibition part of ‘What We Thought We Knew’ I The Koppel Project Station, London, UK
20 x 20 vision I Citizens Art London Gallery, London, UK
2022 Constructive Land I Lethaby Gallery, London, UK
WADe Asia Exhibition I WADe Asia, New Delhi, India
2021 Seen Unseen I Santiniketan Society of Visual Art & Design, Shantiniketan, India
EA Locus in Focus 'Imaginarium' I Emami Art, Kolkata, India
The Bombay Art Society's 129th Annual Art Exhibition I The Bombay Art Society, Mumbai, India
Letters to Nandalal I Jadunath Bhavan Museum & Resource Centre, Kolkata, India
2020 Ripples I Krittika Arts Space, Santiniketan, India
International Creative Drawing Exchange Program I Gallery Artoz, Udaipur, India
2nd Tagore National Exhibition of Paintings I Tagore International Literature & Arts Festival, Bhopal, India
Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition I Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India
2019 Conjunction I The India Story, Kolkata, India
7th Young Santiniketan Artists Exhibition I Santiniketan Society of Visual Art & Design, Shantiniketan, India
WADe Asia Exhibition I WADe Asia, New Delhi, India
International Drawing Biennale India I Ankan Art Associate, Noida, India
2018 International Art Festival I Jaipur, India
International Exhibition of Mini-Artworks I Yashavini, Bhopal, India
2016 Art Exhibition I Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Office, New Delhi, India
37th Chatrakala Pradarshani I Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy, Jaipur, India
2016 - 19 Abhivyakti - Ek Prayas I Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India