Art on a Postcard International Women’s Day Auction - Curated by Bakul Patki

About 

Bidisha Mamata is a multimedia artist creating photographic stills, films and works on paper. Her day job is as a journalist, broadcaster, presenter and all-round hack. She specialises in international human rights, social justice and the arts and culture and offers political analysis, critique and cultural diplomacy tying these interests together. She writes for the main UK broadsheets (currently as an arts critic and columnist for The Observer and The Guardian) and presents and commentates heavily for BBC TV and radio, ITN, CNN, ViacomCBS for Channel 5 and Sky News, where she has been a regular on the weekend breakfast show since 2016. Her fifth book,  Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices of London (2015), is based on her outreach work in UK prisons, refugee charities and detention centres. Her latest publication is an essay called The Future of Serious Art (Nov 2020). She currently presents the Hello Happiness audio series for Wellcome Collection and is working on the arts series In The Studio for the BBC World Service. 
 

Education 

BA Hons from Oxford University, MSc from The London School of Economics 
 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

Bidisha's first work to be exhibited was a large text-based wall piece at the 000 zerozerozero exhibition at The Whitechapel Gallery back in 1999. More recently her first short film, An Impossible Poison, received its London premier in March 2018. It has been highly acclaimed and selected for multiple international film festivals. Her latest film series, Aurora, launched in 2020 and is ongoing. Her most recent exhibited works on paper have been a large mural and two other large scale pieces for permanent display for the Vital Arts 100 NHS Rooms project and four contributions to the Art On A Postcard Winter Auction 2022. 
 

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artworks 

I wanted to create forgotten heirlooms and lost pirates' treasure. These are small punchy all-over textured bobbling glittery crusty bursts of colour, crackling with tactile fun. Collectable, covetable, with immediate eye appeal, like tiles discovered at the bottom of the sea, covered in glittering coral and roe and frogspawn and pirates' riches. I have always loved fake, fictional or imaginary heirlooms/artefacts/archaeology and findings, alternate histories, spoils and plunderings. These artworks are votive objects, talismans and symbols of protection. In dark times I wanted to create a run of works that bring luck and oversight. Buy them and they'll usher in years of great karma. 
 

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