Nicola Durvasula
- Faculty
Biography
Nicola Durvasula (born Jersey, Channel Islands), lives and works in Walmer on the Kent coast. She studied Fine Art in France, relocating to Hyderabad, India, where she lived for ten years lecturing in Fine Arts at the University of Hyderabad. On her return to the UK, Durvasula gained an MA Fine Art and began tutoring at the Royal Drawing School in 2012. She has worked across painting, sculpture, film and graphic notations (visual scores), with drawing being at the heart of her practice. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including: The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016–17, Kerala; Museum of Rhythm, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź; Thinking Tantra, The Drawing Room, London; Watercolour, Tate Britain, London. She is represented by Joost van den Bergh, London, and Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, India.
On drawing
What is it in a drawing that carries over and through time – that resides in the very depths of those lines and the spaces in between? Held fast by the ground of truth, the story unfolds and reveals itself. It is NOT the personal – the ‘Nicola’ – for that is a mere surface accessory. Beyond the name and its drenched ‘make up of life’ there is something other – nameless. To name it would be a travesty.
