Unbound Forms at the Hepworth: how Indian and Bangladeshi artists turned craft traditions into contemporary sculpture

The Hepworth Wakefield is hosting Unbound Forms, an exhibition of five pioneering women artists from India and Bangladesh, The Conversation reports. These artists—several of whom lived through their nations' independence—transformed traditional craft practices like carving, weaving, and casting into contemporary sculpture. Using materials such as hemp, metal, ceramic, and wood, they've created works invoking Hindu deities and mythological forms: lingams representing Shiva, nagas or divine serpents, and celestial bodies as personified beings. What unites their work is material ambiguity—textiles become solid and robust, industrial scraps take on monumental presence, and folds serve as both sculptural technique and meditation on the female form. The exhibition runs through November first.

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