A Reading Room

Studio Notes

Slow writing from the studio — on listening, on inheritance, on the colour of waiting.

A Kinnera maker and the artist holding a Kinnera instrument outdoors
August 2026 · Long read

The Fading Sound of India: Discovering the Ancient Kinnera Instrument

A few years ago I came across the Kinnera, an ancient Indian string instrument most people have never heard of. What began as small curiosity became a journey into tribal culture, history, music and storytelling — and one of the most fascinating discoveries in my research as an artist.

Read the full article
March 2026

On listening before painting

Before the brush, there is a long quiet. A short reflection on waiting, and on what the makers of the Kinnera taught me about listening to material before cutting into it.

Read the full note
January 2026

Kinnera, my grandmother's voice

I never learned to play the Kinnera, and yet its voice is the one I recognise before all others. On how inheritance travels through weather rather than instruction.

Read the full note
November 2025

Ochre, as a feeling

Ochre is the colour of a village at four in the afternoon. A short note on the pigment I keep trying to replace, and why it keeps coming back.

Read the full note
September 2025

Studio mornings

The studio opens with the same three gestures every day. On ritual as scaffolding for a fragile thing.

Read the full note