“Majajani”, Noun, feminine, Punjabi;
translation: a woman with attitude [LONDON]

Arjmand Aziz

A great deal has been written about Chila Kumari Burman. Indeed, there is a great deal to say. Her work spans twenty five years of intense, sustained artistic engagement with a dazzling array of media: printmaking, installation, collage, found objects, sculpture, photography and painting. And each aesthetic and creative push is undertaken through the prism of Chila’s Punjabi-Liverpudlianfeminist values and vision. Chila embodies all these and expresses them with a verve and edginess that is all her own. She is, superbly and without apology, a Majajani. Born in Liverpool in 1957 to Punjabi Hindu parents Chila grew up living in and negotiating between classes, creeds and cultures – both South Asian and British. One of the first British Asian women to study Fine Art she was awarded First Class Honours at Southport College of Art and Leeds Polytechnic. She then moved to London and completed an MA at the Slade School of Fine Art, also with Distinction.

Her work is part of several prestigious public and private collections including the Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Richard Branson collection, the Welcome Trust, the Arts Council and the British Council. Chila’s work has been exhibited alongside Howard Hodgkin, Louise Bourgeois, Marlene Dumas and Damien Hirst. Through a diverse arsenal of media Chila’s aim remains steady: the provocative undermining of fixed categories. Added to this is a relentless exploration of South Asian feminine histories through autobiographical self-portraits.