Ben Uri: Audio Adventures

Thomas Lowinsky was born in India on 2 March 1892 of Hungarian descent. He immigrated to England around 1904 to study at Eton College and Trinity College, University of Oxford, before training at the Slade School of Fine Art in London (1912–14). An illustrator and painter of portraits, landscapes, and surrealist imagery, often inspired by the Bible or classical mythology, Lowinsky held his first s...

Painter, sculptor and curator, Syed Saleem Arif Quadri was born in India in 1949 and moved to England with his family in 1966. He studied sculpture at Birmingham College of Art in 1969, later pursuing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London, graduating in 1975. He has worked in many disciplines, including painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics, sculpture, artists books and dr...

Sutapa Biswas was born in Santiniketan (now part of Bolpur), India, in 1962. Her family moved to London in 1966 and she studied art in Leeds and London before establishing a successful career working across a range of media, primarily in conceptual art. Listen to her story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://www.buru.org.uk/contributor/sutapa-biswas

Suresh Vedak was born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai, India) in 1943. After obtaining his painting diploma in 1960, he immigrated to London, where he continued his studies at the Central School of Arts and Crafts until 1965. Alongside designing theatre sets, he became a member of the Indian Artists UK (IAUK) and Rainbow Art Group, designing and exhibiting in exhibitions associated with these...

Sunil Janah was born in Dibrugarh, British India (now India) in 1918. He became a well-known and well-regarded photographer in Calcutta in the 1940s and 1950s, documenting India's pre- and post-independence. Janah lived in London between 1980 and 2003, during which time his works were shown extensively in UK exhibitions. Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: htt...

Siramdasu Venkata Rama Rao was born in Gudivada, British India (now India) in 1936. He arrived in England in 1962 on a Commonwealth Fellowship, studying at the Slade School of Fine Art until 1965. As a celebrated cubist painter, Rao was centrally involved in the early formation of the Indian Painters Collective, the first group of its kind in the UK. Listen to his story here or read the full biogr...

Shanti Panchal was born in the mid-late 1950s in Mesar, Gujarat, India, and trained at the Sir JJ School of Art in Bombay (Mumbai). He immigrated to England on a British Council scholarship to study at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London in 1978. He has lived and worked in London for more than four decades, exhibiting widely, gaining an international reputation and many painting awards both in the...

Sadanand Bakre was born in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, in 1920. After his family moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) he attended the Sir J.J. School of Art. In 1951, he moved to London, England, where he shifted his practice from sculpture to painting. Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://www.buru.org.uk/contributor/sadanand-bakre

Nudrat Afza was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1955. In 1964 her family moved to Bradford, England, where she has since documented local community life as a self-taught photographer. Covering various themes such as ethnicity, community, female fandom and cancer, Afza's works have been shown in many UK exhibitions. Listen to her story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://w...

Nimai Chatterji was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), British India (now India) in 1933, where he later studied Bengali literature. Chatterji immigrated to London, England in the mid-1950s in pursuit of further education and studied at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. During his time in London and travelling across Europe, as an interviewer for the BBC World Service, Chatterji corresp...

Nasser Azam was born in Jhelum, Pakistan in 1963. At the age of seven he moved with his parents to England, where he studied Business at the University of Birmingham. Despite not receiving any formal artistic training, Azam has subsequently been a significant figure in portraiture, painting, and public monumental sculpture in the UK. Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU...

Mariam Syed was born in Karachi, Pakistan in December 1983. She immigrated to Glasgow, Scotland in 2006 to pursue higher education in the arts. Syed is a weaver and textile designer who blends traditional Pakistani weaving practices with her European education and influences. Listen to her story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://www.buru.org.uk/contributor/mariam-syed

Liaqat Rasul was born to Pakistani parents in Wrexham, North Wales, in February 1974. From 1995 to 1999, he attended the University of Derby, England, obtaining a BA (Hons) in Fashion Studies with a specialisation in textiles. A notable aspect of Rasul’s artistic practice involves partnering with charities and non-profit organisations to conduct workshops and creative training sessions. Listen to...

Lancelot Ribeiro was born into a Catholic family from Goa (then a Portuguese colony) in Bombay (now Mumbai), India in 1933, and moved to England in 1950, eventually studying life-drawing at St Martin’s School of Art in London. His artwork was initially inspired by Indian and Goan architecture and the Christian tradition, but he later experimented with polyvinyl acetate (PVA), largely embracing abs...

Jai Chuhan was born in Punjab, India in 1955. She immigrated to London, England in 1973 to attend the Slade School of Fine Art, graduating in 1977. Moving from abstraction towards more figurative self and family portraiture, her paintings focus on the exploration of her dual Indian-British identity, the female experience and the female gaze. Chuhan has exhbiited widely, often in the context of Sou...

Hormazd Narielwalla was born in 1979 in Mumbai, immigrating to the United Kingdom in 2003, where he subsequently obtained his PhD from the University of Arts, London. Narielwalla has extended his artistic practice to encompass collage, printmaking, artist books, and sculpture, extensively using found materials, such as antique tailoring patterns from Europe. These works create a unique 'archive' e...

Hilary Bourne was born in Guntakal, British India (now India) in 1909. When she was three her family immigrated to Ditchling, Sussex, England where she learned spinning and dyeing from a neighbour. In 1936, Bourne met the designer Barbara Allen and the two established a successful business, becoming pioneers of modern textile design, with clients including the Royal Festival Hall on London's South...

F.N. Souza was born in the village of Saligão, Goa, India, in 1924 and moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1929. He immigrated to London, England, in 1949, where he became an acclaimed painter, living and working there until 1967.  Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://www.buru.org.uk/contributor/f-n-souza

Avinash Chandra was born in Shimla (also known as Simla), India, in 1931 and was brought up there and in Delhi, where he studied art. In 1956, he immigrated to London, England on a scholarship to continue his artistic education. In the UK Chandra developed an international career as an exhibited and commissioned artist, his work gradually evolving from landscape towards more sensuous studies of th...

Ashvin Gatha was born in Gujarat, British India (now India) in 1941. After working as a self-taught photographer and photojournalist in India and the USA, Gatha moved to England in 1971 after meeting and marrying Flora, a dancer based in London. In the UK he participated in significant group exhibitions on South Asian photographers and artists. Listen to his story here or read the full biography o...

Photographer, film maker and educator, Arpita Shah was born in Ahmedabad, western India in 1983, immigrating with her family to the UK in 1994 at the age of eleven. Drawing both visually and conceptually on Asian and Eastern mythology, Shah works with photography and film, exploring the intersections of culture, heritage and identity, particularly through portraiture. Arpita Shah lives and works b...

Anish Kapoor was born to a Jewish mother and an Indian Punjabi Hindu father in Bombay (now, Mumbai), India in 1954. He immigrated to England in 1973, attending Hornsey College of Art (BA) and Chelsea School of Art and Design (MA), rising to fame in the 1980s with his geometric and biomorphic sculptures. He has pioneered installation and conceptual art, often in the public domain, working across an...

Ahmed Parvez was born in Rawalpindi, in what was then known as British India (now Pakistan), in 1926. He began pursuing art as a career in 1952, and immigrated to London, England in 1955, where he initially struggled to establish his artistic career. Founding the Pakistan Group of painters, he was also appointed honorary secretary of the Council of Commonwealth Artists in 1955, eventually becoming...

Wendy Pasmore (née Blood) was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1915, moving to England with her family as a child. Her early artistic career was largely curtailed due to family responsibilities (she married the influential artist, Victor Pasmore in 1940) and her art teaching roles during the 1940s and mid-1950s, though she latterly resumed painting and exhibiting. She was a member of the Women’s Interna...

Terence Cuneo was born in London, England in 1907, the son of the Italian-American illustrator Cyrus Cuneo and the British artist Nell Marion Tenison. He trained at Chelsea School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, contributed illustrations to numerous magazines and served as an official war artist during the Second World War. A traditional artist rather than a modernist, he was celebrated f...