“I paint, make prints and work in textiles and am interested in how these mediums can convey human experience. I am an artist and doctor and am currently studying for an MA in Contemporary Art practice at Edinburgh College of Art.”
Sharma’s recent work is on the theme of childbirth; her memories of it, the physical and psychological experience, its ongoing presence in her life and her fascination with states of being, prior to, during and after birth. She is interested in the narrative, dynamic and material aspects of birth and how the work sits in relation to her medical and personal experience.
For Hidden Door’s 2025 Festival Sharma presents Crowning (2024), oil on canvas, Labour Studies (2024), monotype on paper, and Newborn Mother (2024), oil on canvas.
Crowning is an oil on canvas painting depicting the image of a woman in labour at the moment of crowning. It is painted from an embodied perspective, remembering the intense physical sensations, the pain and power of this climactic moment.
The pieces are part of a larger collection of work by Sharma on the theme of childbirth which foreground women’s reproductive labour and embodied experience. They are large, visceral works which emphasize the powerful physical experience of birth. Placed in the industrialised setting of The Paper Factory they prompt conversions on the relationship between the manual and mechanised labour of factory work and the physical, body work of birth, both forms of labour which have been exploited and undervalued by capitalist structures.
“The paintings draw from my personal memories of the experience, painting and gesture-transmitting my body’s memory, still present and active 12 years later. In this way the work connects to themes of feminisation, reimagining spaces, and time and memory.
Find out more at samanthasharma.art or instagram.com/samanthasharma.art
