Anousha Payne

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽 by @anoushapayne , in collaboration with @ushara_x concrete poetry by Kitty Doherty @kldwriting As part of @variousothersmunich 2026 Opening Friday, May 15, 2026, 18–21 h Performance (expanded opera by Ushara): Friday 19:30 & Saturday 15:30 Various Others Opening Weekend: Saturday, May 16, 11–18 h Sunday, May 17, 11–16 h Sperling presents Anousha Payne’s second exhibition in Munich, featuring a new collaboration with sound and performance artist Ushara. Expanding on Payne’s first exhibition at Sperling (at the former gallery location), the show combines sculpture, sound, and live performance to explore the ecology and psychology of the home. Inspired in part by a concrete poem by Kitty Doherty (from which the title is borrowed), various short stories, as well as personal experiences, the house is used as a representation of patriarchal boundaries as the protagonist finds strength in the power to empathise with and eventually metamorphose into a moth in order to be liberated from her domestic routines. Payne’s practice moves between personal experience, fiction, and myth, using assemblage, found objects, and cast bronze to question material hierarchies and cultural values. Ushara’s sound- and performance-based work adds poetry, field recordings, and bodily presence, intensifying the exhibition’s emotional and psychological atmosphere.

LOOKING FORWARD @anoushapayne @ushara_x @kldwriting Triangle reshapes the O of my mouth. Exhibition by Anousha Payne, expanded opera by Ushara, words by Kitty Doherty. A collaborative work at Sperling @sperling_munich 🔸Here is what artist Anousha had to say on the themes of their upcoming exhibition: “This exhibition will use the structure of a house as a representation of patriarchal borders and limits, following a story of a woman accompanied by and eventually becoming a moth. The moth is a used as metaphor for liberation; a creature with freedom to pass through these boundaries with ease. Kitty’s poem has existed alongside the story of the show throughout our conversations, and stands alongside the works as well as within them. Having experienced Ushara’s perfomance and sound previous to working together, the language and intensity of her practise could not be better aligned for a collaboration within the story of the exhibition.“ 🔸Here are Kitty’s words on the collaboration: “As a concrete poet, I’m always thinking about the limits of expression. For this collaboration, I was lucky enough to join a project where artists from different disciplines confronted, played with and transformed limits; of expression and communication, creativity and the self.” 🔸And here is what Ushara shared with us: “In collaboration with Anousha Payne, the work presented at Sperling is an expanded one-woman opera in four acts, combining reinterpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach and Hildegard Von Bingen with original compositions for cello and pipe organ. It explores solitude, transformation, and hope through the shifting relationship between interior psychology and domestic space, extending into an expanded libretto informed by Fluxus and Oulipo. Maybe sometimes we need to be held by four walls to unravel and come together again fully.” * The exhibition will feature live performances by Ushara on Friday 15th at 19:30, and on Saturday 16th at 15:30. — Credits: (1) Ushara (2) Anousha Payne (3) Kitty Doherty

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽 By Anousha Payne, expanded opera by Ushara, words by Kitty Doherty, as part of Various Others Munich 2026 Save the date: Opening Friday, May 15, 2026, 18–21 h Performance by Ushara, Friday 19:30 and Saturday 15:30 Various Others Opening Weekend: Sat, May 16: 11–18 h, Sun, May 17: 11–16 h Sperling presents Anousha Payne’s second exhibition in Munich, featuring a new collaboration with sound and performance artist Ushara. Expanding on Payne’s earlier exhibition at Sperling’s former venue at Regerplatz, the show combines sculpture, sound, and live performance to explore the ecology and psychology of the home. Inspired in part by Kitty Doherty’s concrete poem (from which the title is borrowed), various short stories, as well as personal experiences, it unfolds a narrative of growing anxiety as a protagonist becomes trapped within her domestic space, shaped by encounters with non-human presences.
Payne’s practice moves between personal experience, fiction, and myth, using assemblage, found objects, and cast bronze to question material hierarchies and cultural values. Ushara’s sound- and performance-based work adds poetry, field recordings, and bodily presence, intensifying the exhibition’s emotional and psychological atmosphere. @anoushapayne @ushara_x @kldwriting @variousothersmunich

Looking back on @gemmajanes studio portraits in my old studio in London after finally moving my studio to Paris last month 💋

✨ New Acquisition ✨ We are thrilled to announce that ‘Of mud of mind (an elusive creature)’ (2024) by Anousha Payne has been purchased from @indigoplusmadder and presented to York Art Gallery (@yorkartgallery ) As a sculptor and painter, Anousha Payne’s preferred materials are ceramic and mixed media. She uses these to create experimental works that draw on a variety of sources such as personal experiences, essays, fiction and folklore, with ideas often springing from the stories she writes. York Art Gallery commissioned @‌anoushapayne to create a new piece of work especially for York. She spent time exploring the gallery’s collections, buildings and nearby Museum Gardens in developing her ideas, deciding to create a physical representation of an imaginary creature from a short story. Written during the Covid pandemic, it reflected on the importance of interpersonal relationships and access to nature. Payne’s story was a response to the loneliness, companionship and grief experienced by many during periods of lockdown. York Art Gallery identified Payne as an artist to work because her interests align closely with the museum’s, particularly regarding the role of women as producers of art and as subjects in art and fiction. Outlining the research interests that inform her work, Payne explains: ‘ The stories I feel the most connected to depict women as characters with transformative or magical powers. Their powers or generosity are often taken advantage of, so I reframe them in an empowered light – returning their autonomy to them.’ © Anousha Payne. Courtesy the artist and Indigo+Madder, London. Image credit: York Museums Trust 📸 Matthew Coles

Still processing the incredible weeks that were spent in Lanka for Weather Reports residency organised by @toulip._.wonder @mypandashallfly and @imaadmajeed 1- a salvage and scrap bird mask made with coconut leaf, metal and cotton 2 & 11 - from a collective drawing workshop by me @shaynafonseka and @mayunkalu hosted by @cocaartanddesign 3 @dinoj.m with a bass made from found materials 4 & 9 incredible @toulip._.wonder @ushara_x @mayunkalu @sethdesilva performance 5 jani’s beautiful home she designed 6 & 7 playing with @kavitha.balasingham transducers in the house 8 @shaynafonseka under a beautiful tree 9 from a collective making and music performance with @sajas_music @dinoj.m @mypandashallfly - dinoj made a track using recordings of the instruments we found and made together, also using recordings of traffic and birdsong from my window sill and Sajas wrote and performed an amazing rap. Suren and I played a car horn which we went on a mission to wire up, having been given an old car horn by a garage 12 @wallattaa holding very sour fruit from the foxtail palm (?) 14 @mypandashallfly in his new sarong 15, 19, 20 @shaynafonseka @kavitha.balasingham learning batik at Sharmila batik factory @saranalanka 17 and 18 @kalukandahouse 16 group photo ! So greateful for this time with all of you 💗 @sajas_music @dinoj.m @toulip._.wonder @mypandashallfly @sethdesilva @tashy_anna @imaadmajeed @kavitha.balasingham @shaynafonseka @ushara_x @wallattaa @april.20.7 @mayunkalu

I can’t believe it’s been over 9 months in Paris! Thank you @citedesartsparis @if_officiel for this magic year. I loved living in the trees, watching the seasons pass First pic Cité internationale des arts © Maurine Tric / Adagp Paris, 2025

Instal view from the Volcano Lover, earlier this year @galerist_tr curated by @anlamdecoster Thank you flik @ocelot.shop for helping with the instal Photo by @zeynepfiratphotos

Final day of @artcolognefair , focus on @anoushapayne Anousha Payne (*1991, Southampton) works across sculpture and painting, using ceramics, textiles, wood, rattan, metal, and watercolour. Her practice explores spirituality as a cultural expression distinct from religion, processing the boundaries between personal experience, fiction, and myth. Moving between drawing, painting, and sculpture, Payne examines how meaning shifts through material translation. Her ceramic works, often featuring reptile skin textures, act as hybrid objects that blur the divide between human, animal, and natural forms. Adorned with jewellery and textiles, they function as cultural signifiers that question material hierarchies and values. Drawing from Indian folk stories and personal mythologies, Payne creates a visual language that meditates on the performative power of objects, chance, and transformation. Recent exhibitions include Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, Istanbul; York Art Gallery (2025); Newchild, Antwerp; Sperling, Munich (2024); Arnolfini, Bristol; Deli Gallery and Stellarhighway, New York (2023); Public Gallery, London (2022); Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh (2021); and others. Credits: At Art Cologne we are showing paintings and watercolours from Anousha Payne’s exhibition «Murmurations» at @zeyrekcinilihamam (Istanbul), curated by @anlamdecoster , 2025, as well as two ceramic sculptures. Slide 6+7: Anousha Payne, 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 (𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦) 𝘐 + 𝘐𝘐𝘐, 2025, watercolour and gel medium on cotton, each 210 × 165 cm, photo: Hadiye Cangökçe Anousha Payne, 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 (𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴), 2025, watercolours on paper, each 41 × 30 cm, photos: Hadiye Cangökçe Slide 5: Anousha Payne, 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯, 2024, glazed stoneware ceramic, pewter, stone, bronze, 33 × 50 × 3 cm, photo: Nicola Morittu Slide 10: Anousha Payne, 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘵, 2024, glazed ceramic stoneware, bronze, 25 × 25 × 20 cm, photo: Nicola Morittu

From ‘a faint glow, a stone and a shark’s tooth’ @sperling_munich last year Ceramic, bronze, pigment, cardboard, paper, glue, modroc and 3 channel sound piece made with @jonaspequeno Body casts made with help from Flik @ocelot.shop 💗

Thank you @kldwriting for inviting me to be featured in FU review, an annual literary journal based in Berlin, this years theme was ‘dirt’ So much beautiful, muddy, strange writing Featuring writing by Aiden John, Hannah Goldstein, Judith Jung, Mw Bewick, Otis Mensah, Priyam Goswami, Robert Annis, Rose Henbest, Shahé Mankerian, Sofija Popovska, Taiwo Hassan, Tak Erzinger and Ted Bernal Guevara Editorial Design by @eleonoratoniolo @benedettapompilistudio The work on slide 1 will be shown at Art Cologne this week with @sperling_munich 💗

@anoushapayne at @aaaahhhparisinternationale 2025, October 22–26. Anousha Payne’s new paintings and sculptures weave together myth, memory, and personal narrative to explore the tension between resistance and desire. Emerging from her short story «The Gravity of Fur», the female figure depicted across the works oscillates between combat and dance – gestures that mirror an inner struggle toward self-realisation. This dynamic is informed by Aikido’s balance between grace and strength, a philosophy passed down through her stepfather’s own practice of martial arts as resistance in 1980s Britain. In parallel, Payne’s engagement with colonial archives in the UK has deepened her interest in absence and erasure; her recent works incorporate wax drawings and punctured surfaces as metaphors for what is omitted from history. Payne recently participated in a workshop for British Sri Lankans organised by Cassie Layton @toulip._.wonder as part of her ongoing research decolonising the archives ‘Reclaiming Ceylons archives through sound’. The workshop was organised by Layton at the national archives in the uk, and facilitated by Michelle Rodrigues. The resulting paintings – divided into strips where a sun rises and falls – convey both fragmentation and continuity, evoking shared cycles of time and renewal. Her sculptural creature, imagined from the story as an invented lover, embodies hybridity and protest: with two left hands, fetish glove, and talismanic details, it resists conformity while celebrating intuition, play, and the sensuality of invention. Anousha Payne is currently in residence at @citedesartsparis , where open studios are regularly organised. Works shown: Glass bodies (raising the sun), 2025, chalk pastel, wax, watercolour, gel medium on cotton, dyptich each 170 × 80 cm S h i f t s (with the sun), 2025, chalk pastel, wax, watercolour, gel medium on cotton, 170 × 90 cm The ultimate love affair (of mud of mind), 2025, mixed media sculpture, 220 × 82 × 46 cm in deeper empathy (becoming moth), 2025, chalk pastel, wax, watercolour, gel medium on cotton, 170 × 125 cm 📸 Photos by Nicola Morittu