MITA VAGHELA

The work I make is research led, encompassing a range of media including sculpture, film, food, photography, performance and drawing. 

​

My practice centres on questioning my social heritage and the value of the female in Hindu culture.  I am unpacking my experience of growing up as a daughter of double diaspora in an attempt to discover a sense of belonging and examine the construction of my identity. 

​

I am interested in the blur between religion and tradition, and questioning the social structures that surround me.  Researching colonial and post-colonial theories, cultural studies, religious texts,  anthropology of food and identity, and diaspora discourse interwoven with personal and shared anecdotal recollections, all inform my work​.

 

The process of making is a crucial component in my work.   I often use repetition in the production stage, which requires setting up a method of working whereby my hands are able to function independently, allowing my mind to wander; to contemplate, and make sense of my research.

 

In 2019 I set up @wahwomxnartistsofcolour through which I collaborate on socially engaged projects that have included participatory dance workshops and live cooking demos concluding in shared meals.

​

I am the director at OVADA, an arts organisation in Oxford which facilitates experimental visual arts research and practice as well as professional development opportunities for both emerging and established artists. We also seek to promote critical debate and the exchange of ideas without prescribed outcomes.

​

​

 

B.  1973 UK

​

Mead Fellowship 2020 finalist

​

Clifford Chance Sculpture Award 2020 - shortlisted

​

Mullen Lowe Nova Award 2019 - shortlisted

​

Mona Hatoum Scholarship 

​

MA Fine Art Central Saint Martins 2017-2019

​Old Fire Station Studio Award, Oxford 2013/14

​

BA Fine Art (Hons)  Oxford Brookes University 2013

​

​

Workshops/talks/interviews

​

2022      

Whose Curry is it Anyway, WAH! Camberwell University, London

Roti-making workshop, Pegasus Theatre, Oxford

“Modern-Day Creative” panel discussion, Thrive Festival, Oxford Brookes University

Performative Cooking Lecture, MA Arts and Place students, Oxford

Published interview: Ox Magazine

2021          
Whose Curry is it Anyway? WAH! The Feminist Library, London

Talk: What could the creative landscape look like for women if there were no reserve? Leicester 

2019      
'Cooking with Aunties' Otherly X WAH!  Hoxton 253, London

WAH! Bringing the Spice, Raven Row, Artillery Lane, London

Artnight London, Granary Square/Canopy Market, London

WAH! Garba x Granary Square, London

Published interview: UAL Stories, The Metaphors of Migration

WAH! Garba x Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London

2018          
Roti Making Workshop, Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London 

​​​

Selected Exhibitions​

​

2022               
PoeTree, Gartnerhaus, Bonn, Germany, Oxford Bonn Exchange

PoeTree, OVADA, Oxford, Oxford Bonn Exchange,  

un/re/dis/cover, OVADA Gallery, Oxford

2021       
HATCHED21/Photo Oxford, OVADA Gallery, Oxford

No Reserve, Leicester Contemporary

2019            
The Glass Tank Gallery, Oxford Brookes University

WAH! Women Artists of Colour, Bringing the Spice, Raven Row, Artillery Lane, London

Alter Us Manifesto Declaration, Old Baths, Hackney Wick, London

de-linking entanglements with Erika Tan and Tat Whalley,  Stanley Picker Gallery, London

Show One, Taking Shape, Central Saint Martins, London

Alter Us, Camberwell UAL, London

Socio-Parasitology Manifesto, Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts, London

2018             
Appetite - Central Saint Martins MA Interim Show, The Apiary, Hackney, London

2017      
Interdictions, response and re-enactment of Annette Messager, Central Saint Martins

Ward, University of Buckingham Medical School

Hatched, North ​Wall Arts Centre, Oxford

2013               
Lightbox, Free Range, London

BA3, Oxford Brookes University Degree Show

Collected Vision, Pegasus Theatre, Oxford

Where's the Hoover? Oxford

2012      
No.9 Exhibition, Oxford

Collected Vision, Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
2011                
Urban Art Fair, South London​​​​​

Oxford Art Market​​​​​​

2010                 
Urban Art Fair, South London
Henley Festival
Bucks Open Studios
Beaconsfield Art Fair
Stowe House, Northamptonshire
2009      
Beaconsfield Art Fair
Friar Lane Gallery, Nottingham
Untitled Artists Fair, Chelsea

Beaconsfield Art Fair
Stowe House, Northamptonshire
2008       
Beaconsfield Art Fair
Middleton Hall, Milton Keynes
Northamptonshire Open Studios
Milton Keynes Fringe Festival
Bucks Open Studios
Beaconsfield Art Fair

2007      
Taurus Gallery, Oxford

​​​​​​

​​