Alka Dass, South Africa

​Alka Dass is a South African artist born and raised in KwaZulu-Natal, she studied fine art at Durban University of Technology’, in KwaZulu-Natal. She now practices in the province of Gauteng. 

Alka Dass’ work looks at her identity. She looks at herself as a South African Indian and the cultural ideals and properties attached to it, whilst also looking at the western woman. Her work is a visual-psychological interpretation of women of colour. She looks at her own experiences whilst understanding that race and gender effect the artistic process. She looks at the rethinking of the culture and psychological spaces that are traditionally assigned to women of colour. She deals with these topics via found objects, traditional pigments, spices, mix media and inspiration drawn from her culture as well. 

Alka Dass has taken part in numerous group shows and art festivals nationally in South Africa. This year she has taken part in her first international show at ‘The 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair’ in Brooklyn, New York and has just finished a residency in Saint-Émilion, France (for a duration of 3 months) with SAFFCA, Alliance Francaise and The Project Space. She is currently working on her second Solo show for early 2019.