كامىلە
About
Camilla Dilshat is a sculpture/installation artist of Uyghur ethnicity born and based in London (b.1998). Having studied at City & Guilds of London Art School where she was awarded the Tony Carter Prize in 2023, she has stayed on as the 2023/24 Wood Fellow. Notable group exhibitions include 'I Said Fruit Salad [!!!]' at Hypha Studios (2023), ‘Embodied' at Morley Gallery (2023) and 'What Do We Become' at the Barbican Centre (2023). Camilla has also exhibited internationally amongst other Uyghur artists in Melbourne, Australia and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Emerging from experiential reflections, my art practice delves into bodily experience in relation to diasporic self-expression as a London-born Uyghur. My life has been littered with misunderstandings from others regarding my ethnicity. My body felt invisible, and my mouth was unequipped to handle the tiring task of constant self-definition. Thus, bodily feelings form the core of my work, where I can transcend spoken language to express who I am since my own (mother) tongue fails me. The materials and textures I overlay make direct references to sensory memory and the visceral body. For instance, I play with nostalgia (my own and my parents) using salt dough, sand, and sunflower seed husks. More abject materials like stretched latex skins and detached ceramic tongues inhabit familiar domestic references to real homes and imagined homelands such as dining chairs, stylistic windows, and terracotta walls. The calabash gourd is obsessively focused on, representing both nostalgia and references to mouths and stomachs. Through a sense of place being shattered, I am engaging in sculpture-making to expose the reality of disconnection and uncover moments of re-remembering and community building. As my body reacts, consumes, and blurs between boundaries I hope to narrate the complexity of diasporic belonging and identity.
CV
Upcoming Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions
"Animalia", ARC Padstow, Cornwall, Sep 2023 - May 2024
“I Said Fruit Salad [!!!]”, Hypha Studios Euston, London, 1 Dec 2023 – 6 Jan 2024
“Embodied”, Morley Gallery, London, 7-28 October 2023
"Allodium", Forest Hill, London, 4-6 Oct 2023
“Medeniy Miras”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 29 Sep – 6 Oct 2023
“MA Show 2023”, City & Guilds of London Art School, London, 2-9 Sep 2023
"Home Away From Home", House of Annetta, London, 20-28 July 2023
"Threshold", Hanbury Hall, London, 4-18 May 2023
"What Do We Become", Barbican Centre, Level G Hub, London, 14 April - 7 May 2023
"MA Fine Art Interim Show", City & Guilds of London Art School, London, 16-17 March 2023
“Uyghur: Reclaiming our Story”, Schoolhouse Studios, Melbourne, Australia, 11-18 March 2023
“Canyon”, Fresh Salad Art (virtual exhibition + Projection at RupturEXIBIT, London), 17 Feb – 3 March 2023
"Anonyme Zeichner", Galerie Im Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany, 18 June - 24 Aug 2022
"Meet Me Halfway", The Art Pavilion Mile End, London, 8-11 June 2022
"MA Fine Art Interim Show", City & Guilds of London Art School, London, March 2022
"Full-time Student Final Exhibition", Hampstead School of Art, June 2021
“Full-time Student Interim Exhibition”, Hampstead School of Art, May 2021
Prizes
The Tony Carter Award, City & Guilds of London Art School, Sep 2023
Work(shop) Experience
Memory Carriers 2.0, London Uyghur School, 21 & 28 January 2024
Drop-in Design: Salt-Dough Sculpture, V&A, London, 9-11 August 2023
Memory Carriers Art Workshop, Uyghur Diaspora Voices, Sheffield, 21-22 July 2023
Salt Dough Making Workshop, Barbican Centre, 5 May 2023
Drop-in Zine Making Workshop Leader, Redbridge Heritage Centre, 14 Feb 2023
Two Day Kids Salt-Dough Workshop Leader, “Neeli Malik: 100 Days of Groceries”, Chingford Mount, 13 Jan – 6 Feb 2023
Children’s Ceramics Workshop Teacher, Hampstead School of Art, Jan 2023 - ongoing
People Powered Research Volunteer for “Ilford Limited: Analogue Stories”, National Portrait Gallery x Redbridge Museum, April - Dec 2022
Alumni Committee Member, The Creative Dimension Trust, 2020-ongoing
Select Publications
Studio Interview, Manifold Space, Dec 2023
Studio Visit - Blog, Blanco Gallery, Nov 2023
Camilla Dilshat, Morley Gallery Podcast, Morley Radio, Oct 2023
Talking to the Artist Camilla Dilshat, Tarim Network: Our Canvas, Video Interview, Sep/Nov 2022
Education
MA Fine Art, City & Guilds of London Art School, 2021-2023
Advanced Course in Fine Art, Hampstead School of Art, 2020-2021
BA History, UCL, 2017-2020