About — Kali J

kalijstudio2@gmail.com
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Statement

Feeling like a misfit in all my roles as a woman, I have lived with a deep urge to know myself. After trying desperately to belong to various labels, theories and concepts, what I can trust is witnessing myself through the act of making art.

Charcoal lets me navigate my emotions through mark-making, layering, smudging and distortion; carving into dense linoleum lets me stay with its resistance; performance lets me embody my response through movement. These are real, embodied actions, not ideas. What I hear, read, observe, smell and touch becomes physical through my feminine body, and I become a vessel that alchemises these experiences into art.

Through this practice, I have realised that something ancient is buried within me, something not entirely mine. It surfaces as something wild: a longing to be free, uncivilised, selfish, angry and erotic. This self-inquiry is not mine alone; I share it with the grandmothers who came before me. The ability to unfurl it also comes from an ancient knowing, an instinct within me.

Ultimately, I hope this practice deepens my self-knowledge while opening a dialogue among women and artists who want to access their raw creative power, honouring the primordial history we share.

Bio

Kali J is a visual and performance artist based in Mumbai, India. She trained in painting at Rachana Sansad Academy, Mumbai (Diploma in Fine Arts, 2016), after earlier studies in commerce and fashion technology.

Her practice moves between printmaking, drawing and performance. Since 2023 she has studied figurative drawing and composition with Glenn Vilppu in Mexico, Brussels and Vienna, alongside clown work and integral embodiment with Thomas Prattki, and Fitzmaurice Voicework and Balinese maskwork with Dr. Budi Miller.

In 2025 she took part in the Corpus Performance Art residency at Apre Art House, Mumbai. In 2026 she presented Undercurrents, a site-specific performance at the Forplay Society, Mattancherry, as part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Parallel Programme. She also runs Kali J Studio, where she teaches art to children.