Chitra Parvathy Merchant currently works as an artist in Bristol, U.K. After completing a B.A Degree in Psychology, she left India to work for a year in an artist’s studio in West Africa. She came to England in the early nineties and completed a B.A (Hons) Degree in Illustration from U.W.E Bristol (’98) where she was first introduced to printmaking. In 2001 she based herself at Spike Print Studio where she prints, paints, exhibits and works to commission on a regular basis.

Chitra has been engaged with exploring the forest ecologies of  the Western Ghats in South Indian  for several years now. Having grown up in this region, she travels back regularly and has a long standing connection to it passed down from her grandfather who was a forest officer in these parts.
She is particularly inspired by the 'Devakads' (Sacred Groves) found in these regions and the stories and mythologies that surround them.
The resulting drawings, paintings and prints seek to explore and highlight the biodiversity as well the inherent wild mystery underlying the existence of these spaces.
Chitra also hopes to shed light on the many environmental issues and threats facing this  fast diminishing landscape.
The trees in these artworks are very much rooted in observational drawings of ancient existing species, keeping in mind their particular values to the local population in terms of their medicinal, spiritual and symbolic aspects. With this base, the trees are placed / drawn into landscapes that traverse from the known into the mythical, into a  “Region beyond Reason”  
Chitra Parvathy Merchant grew up in India and currently works as an artist in Bristol, U.K. After completing a B.A Degree in Psychology, she left India to work for a year in an artist’s studio in West Africa. She came to England in the early nineties and completed a B.A (Hons) Degree in Illustration from U.W.E Bristol (’98) where she was first introduced to printmaking. In 2001 she based herself at Spike Print Studio where she prints, exhibits and works to commission on a regular basis.

WORK CAN BE VIEWED AT:

Royal Academy of Arts, London, online shop
Irving Gallery, Oxford
Candida Stevens Fine Art, Chichester
Makers, Bristol

PRIZES:

Harford Prize 2022 from the Royal West of England Academy

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS:

Imperial College Trust Hospitals, London
Clifford Chance Collection, London
Wigan Council, Manchester

EXHIBITIONS:

2023: Royal West of England Autumn show
2023: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2023: 'Climate, Emergency, Hope' at the Turnpike Gallery
2022: Royal West of England Summer Show
2021: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2021: ‘Weathering the Storm’, Candida Stevens Fine Art, Sussex
2020: Royal Academy Summer / WInter Show , London
2019: Solo show at Hidden Gallery, Bristol
2018: Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2018: Art Rooms Fair
2017: ‘Good Nature’, Candida Stevens Fine Art, Chichester, UK
2017: Brighton Print Fair, UK
2017: SKETCH 2017, Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough, UK
2017: ‘Drawn’, RWA Bristol
2016: NEO: Print Prize 2016
2016: ‘ICON’, Candida Stevens Fine Art
2016: ‘The Story in Art’, Candida Stevens Fine Art
2016: Small Print International, Leicester Print Studio
2015: ‘Pressing Identities’ West Yorkshire Print Studio
2015: ‘In The Studio’ Videoed  by the Royal Academy of Arts2015: ‘Encre 39 / 93’ Atelier aux Lilas, Paris
2014: Royal Academy Art, Painter / Printmakers show
2014: AAF Battersea, London 
2014: ‘Multiplied’, Christies, London 
2014: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London 
2013: AAF Battersea, London 
2013: ‘Multiplied’, Christies, London 
2013: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London 
2013: BV Open Studios, Bristol 
2013: Prema , Performing Arts Space, Gloucester 
2012: Winter Show, Rostra, Bath 
2012: AAF, Battersea, London 
2012: ‘BITE’ Artists Making Prints, Mall Galleries, London 
2012: Bristol Affordable Art Fair 
2012: May Open Studios, Spike Island, Bristol 
2012: London Original Print Fair, Royal Academy, London 
2012: Group Show; Victoria Art Gallery and Museum, Bath 
2011: Affordable Art Fair , Battersea, London 
2011: ‘BITE’ Artists Making Prints, Mall Galleries, London 
2011: Small Print Big Impression, U.K 
2011: Affordable Art Fair, Bristol, U.K 
2011: May Open at SPS 
2010: Group Show at the Create Centre , Bristol 
2010: Invited Artist at SNAP Gallery Bristol 
2010: R.A Summer Exhibition 
2009: IMPACT ’09 
2009: RWA Open Print, Bristol, U.K 
2009: Solo show at BIYC Bristol, U.K 
2009: May Open at Spike Print Studio, Bristol, U.K 
2009: IMPRESS, GPC, Stroud, U.K 
2008: S, M,L,XL, Spike Print Studio, U.K 
2008: Solo show at Room 212, Bristol, U.K
2008: Group Show at RUH, Bath, U.K
2007: BABE, Arnolfini, Bristol, U.K 
2007: Spike Print, Spyglass, Bristol
2006: Spike Print, Paintworks, Bristol
2005: Solo show at Bristol Old Vic
2004: May Open, Spike Print , U.K
2003: Christmas Show at Spike Print Studio, U.K 
2002: May Open, Spike Print , U.K
2002: Christmas Show at Spike Print Studio, U.K
2000: Group Show at Centre Space Gallery, Bristol, U.K
1998: Degree Show at Angel Islington art Gallery, London

EDUCATION:
2005: PGCE, UWE, Bristol, U.K 
1999: Post Extn Studies in Illustration, UWE, Bristol, U.K
1998: BA Hons Illustration, UWE, Bristol, U.K 
1995: Foundation Studies in Art and Design, Leeds, U.K 
1993: BA Psychology, Bangalore, India

www.chitra.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/chitra_merchant