Siri Devi Khandavilli

Siri Devi Khandavilli is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice fluidly bridges tradition and innovation, drawing deeply from Indian artistic legacies while engaging in a broader contemporary dialogue. Working across sculpture, painting, and printmaking, she dissolves boundaries between disciplines to explore themes of cultural migration, feminism, ecology, mythology, and the nature of reality.

Khandavilli’s artistic foundation was shaped from an early age at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, where she later earned an MFA in Sculpture (2016). She also holds a BFA and an MFA in Intermedia from Arizona State University (2003, 2009) and trained under the esteemed temple sculptor Pandiyan in Kumbakonam. This diverse education informs a practice that is both meticulous and experimental, embracing elements of chance while also reflecting on history, tradition, and transformation.

A recurring motif in her work is the act of mirroring—both literally and conceptually. Her pursuit of the “perfect image” led her to invent a mirror finish on her canvases, blurring the distinction between painting and reflection. The image on the canvas is constantly being created in the present yet carries memories and imprints of the past. She also engages in an ongoing exploration of the tension between control and unpredictability, a theme that permeates her sculptural practice. Her methods, mediums, contexts, and surfaces destabilize singular readings, inviting layered interpretations that oscillate between the apparent and the subversive. She believes that an artwork is never about just one thing but rather about everything happening in the world at the time of its creation, as the artist is thinking and experiencing it all simultaneously.

Khandavilli is currently preparing for a solo exhibition with Art Centrix Space (2026). She has exhibited widely, including ‘Shaping a life of Curiosity’, Lisa Sette Gallery, Arizona, USA; ‘Grand Canyon: From Dreams to Memory’, Lisa Sette Gallery, Arizona, USA (2024); ‘Intimate Distance, curated by Alnoor Mitha, with Art Centrix Space, Main Art Gallery, Bikaner House (2024); and ‘MATRIX: Succinct Ecosystems of Thought’, Art Centrix Space, New Delhi (2023), as well as multiple presentations at India Art Fair and Art Mumbai. Her works are held in major institutional collections, including the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Private Collection, the Albertina Museum, Durham University Museum, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Queens Museum, among others.

Splitting her time between New Delhi and New York, Khandavilli navigates a transnational space where many experiences overlap, creating a body of work that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.