An Espresso with Madi Acharya-Baskerville: Environmental Artist on Reclaimed Materials, Success and Belonging
Published: April 5, 2025 | An interview by Romina Provenzi | 5 min read
Madi Acharya-Baskerville portrait
Madi Acharya-Baskerville is an Asian born diaspora contemporary artist whose practice explores environmental consciousness, material narratives, and south-Asian cultural heritage. Based in London, Acharya-Baskerville creates sculptures and public artworks predominantly from reclaimed materials and discarded textiles, addressing issues of environmental pollution and sustainability. In 2024, she won the First Plinth: Public Art Award with work currently installed at the Art House in Wakefield, created from salvaged materials, including platforms from the Olympic Park in Stratford. Her practice is deeply rooted in participatory projects that engage communities in creative exploration of found materials, opening discussions about environmental consciousness and the narratives embedded in everyday objects. Acharya-Baskerville's work synthesises her personal history, drawing inspiration from south-Asian textiles and patterns. Her engagement with the Ashmolean Museum's south-Asian textiles collection, supported by Arts Council England funding, led to innovative ceramic works inspired by the damaged textile patterns. She has been awarded artist residencies through the 20/20 programme (Decolonising Arts Institute, Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England, and UAL) and received a National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England (2024) for her 'I Dream a Palace' exhibition. Her work is held in public collections, and she continues to create sculptures that bridge environmental activism, cultural heritage, and community collaboration.
Success in the Art World
What does success mean to you as an artist?
Success is about being recognised as having created something relevant and gaining exposure for the work, which has to be seen. I feel that I’ve been successful in what I am trying to say when the work connects with curators, museums, and private galleries because the process starts from finding the materials and thinking about the ideas, then it must continue with sending the work out in the world to make it last. It’s very important to complete this process. Success is also related to the competitive nature of the art world, so for me, it’s a triumph if I have been successful with what I do. It spurs me on when I receive recognition, get shortlisted or win something. It makes me feel it’s worth pursuing.
Environment and Reclaimed Materials
What are the themes of your work at present?
Last year, I won the First Plinth: Public Art Award with a proposal about the use of objects and materials in the environment. The work is currently at the Art House in Wakefield, and it was made of materials that I collected, like the platform from the salvage yard at the Olympic Park in Stratford, and discarded textiles for the figures. My work is about the materials in our environment that are now showing another layer of interaction with nature as a consequence of being left outside and affected by the elements of nature. It is about creating work in the public realm, predominantly made out of reclaimed materials and objects that have been part of our lives. For example, there is a huge problem with discarded textiles going to landfill, and I want to highlight that textiles are one of the biggest sources of environmental pollution. I am also interested in the narratives behind materials and objects: their past, what that may mean when I look at them, and what that may mean when the viewer looks at them or the finished work. Everyone brings their narrative, and it’s the layers of narratives and interactions that interest me truly. I will also say that my practice is very much rooted in the south-Asian culture, especially India, and my personal history of living here and having come from India and regularly going back as well, as a sort of synthesis of where I come from. An important part of my practice is participatory projects, which interest me very much as a way of tapping into people's creativity. The use of materials that are in our environment and working with communities to create works is a good way of opening up discussions about the environment, because people often will discover new ways of using materials that are found. It's important to bring an environmental consciousness to the viewer and the public when the work is made and exhibited.
On Sense of Belonging
Do you feel a sense of belonging to the art world?
I feel that I am very much part of it. I have been quite successful with grant applications that have enabled me to progress. When I was living in Oxford, I visited the Ashmolean Museum regularly, and I applied for a grant from the Arts Council of England, which was successful, for a project based on the South Asian textiles collection of the Ashmolean Museum. I became very interested in their patterns to such an extent that they became an inspiration and source for my work in clay. I gave another life to the pattern on the heavily damaged textiles, just in a different medium, ceramics. This experience led me to apply to the 20/20, a programme launched by the Decolonising Arts Institute with funding provided by Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England and UAL. I won one of their artist residencies to create works for the public collection of the Lightbox in Woking. A solo exhibition of the works followed, and I was awarded a National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England (2024) for the ‘I Dream a Palace’ exhibition.
Reflections on this interview
Three interconnected themes emerge from this interview. Madi Acharya-Baskerville's understanding of success centres on visibility and recognition, creating relevant work that connects with curators, museums, and galleries while completing the full journey from material sourcing to public exhibition. Awards like the First Plinth: Public Art Award and grants from Arts Council England validate her practice and demonstrate how external recognition supports artistic commitment in a competitive art world. At the heart of her work lies environmental consciousness, expressed through reclaimed materials and discarded objects. By collecting salvaged platforms from the Olympic Park and highlighting textile waste as a major source of pollution, she creates work that speaks to our relationship with consumption and waste. Her participatory projects invite communities to discover new uses for found materials, transforming environmental awareness into creative action, with each reclaimed object carrying its own history that merges with viewer narratives. This environmental focus is inseparable from her cultural identity, which is rooted in south-Asian culture, particularly India. Acharya-Baskerville's engagement with the Ashmolean Museum's south-Asian textiles collection, translating damaged patterns into ceramic works, demonstrates how she bridges cultural heritage with contemporary practice. Through programmes like the Decolonising Arts Institute's 20/20 residency, she has found meaningful belonging in the art world by successfully integrating her cultural heritage into her environmental and community-focused work, proving that an authentic artistic voice can find its place in the contemporary art world.
Surviving Bird , 2022 - Mixed media sculpture Dimensions (cm) H55 W22 D16
Living with Ganesh, 2023, Dimensions (cm) H40 W 32 D 20, Ceramic Sculpture
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