Benitha Perciyal (b. 1978) is a Chennai-based artist whose practice emerges from a sustained engagement with materials and their unique cultural lives. Her installations build on the inherent qualities of the materials and objects she works with—re-used Burma Teak, resins and fibers, spices, seeds, frankincense, Figwood, powders of coal and bark, and even Kolu dolls, the bazaar-bought figurines displayed during the autumn festive season in South India.
Perciyal's work is deeply rooted in the specificity of place and tradition, yet her approach transforms everyday materials into explorations of memory, ritual, and the passage of time. By elevating the overlooked and the ordinary, she reveals the poetic potential embedded in objects that carry both personal and collective histories.
Her practice challenges the boundaries between sculpture, installation, and cultural archive, inviting viewers to reconsider the materials that shape our daily lives and the stories they quietly hold.