Chila Kumari Singh Burman
Chila Kumari Singh Burman MBE is celebrated for her radical feminist practice which examines representation, gender and cultural identity. She works across a wide range of mediums including printmaking, drawing, painting, installation and film. Born in Bootle, to Punjabi-Hindu parents, she attended Southport College of Art, Leeds Polytechnic and the Slade School of Fine Art. A key figure in the British Black Arts movement in the 1980s, Burman has since remained rooted in her understanding of the diverse nature of culture. Continually seeking to break stereotypes and emancipate the image of women, she often uses self-portraiture as a tool of empowerment and self-determination.
Burman was selected as the fourth artist to complete the Tate Britain Winter Commission in 2020. The resulting hugely popular installation Remembering A Brave New World, addressed the colonial history of Tate Britain and its Eurocentric position. More recently she has gone on to complete high profile light installation projects for Covent Garden’s historic market stall building, Liverpool Town Hall and Blackpool’s Grade II listed Grundy Art Gallery. She recently featured in Sky Arts documentary special Statues Redressed and BBC2 documentary Art That Made Us. In 2017, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate and Honorary Fellowship from the University of Arts in London. In 2022 she was awarded an MBE for her services to the arts.