Nilupa Yasmin is an artist and educator who explores the principles of art and craft and the expanded materiality within photography. She is interested in culture, self-identity, and anthropology, and investigates the ideals and traditions that are close to home; drawing upon her own identity through gender, religion and her British Bangladeshi culture and heritage. An element of her practice focuses on socially engaged photography, as she works collaboratively with various communities to produce, and curate works of art.

On show are Grow me a Waterlily and Shekah, in which Yasmin explores the fragments of identity through an exploration of craft and the politicised notion of fabric. Weaving as a form of self-expression is brought together with these works, that study her identity and her matrilineage.

Grow me a Waterlily dwells in the space between expectations and traditions; by offering an exploration into the self, the home and the idea of belonging. Intricately woven archival images are combined into self-portraits, incorporating statements made from Yasmin’s headscarf to her mother’s wedding saree. In this, each image tells a story of her journey into self-discovery.

Shekah highlights the process of learning, in which Yasmin explores her lost family history of weaving. Archive images of her mother in her youth, are created into woven prints on digitally printed fabric. She explores the tactile nature of weaving and its relationship to the very texture of the fabric, while restoring the age-old craft in a contemporary setting, challenging the expectations of what we perceive a weaver to be.

This exhibition features photographs and digitally printed fabric.

See Nilupa Yasmin’s exhibition, part of the Sensasian Festival 2025, in the public area at New Vic Theatre from Monday 30 June to Saturday 26 July. It’s free and there’s no need to book, simply in Monday – Saturday, 10am – 3pm.