Book a room
/
Book a room

David Chalmers Alesworth

David Alesworth is a sculptor, photographer and researcher of garden histories, working between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. He is former Head of Sculpture, IVSAA (1991-2002), and Professor, BFA + MAADS at SVAD, BNU, Lahore (2006-2015). Over the past decade his work has been organised around an expanded vision of the garden as ‘global forest’ of which we are all part. The garden is his key metaphor with which to question humanity’s culturally specific relationships with the natural world and to better understand the notion of nature as a social problem. His own hybrid identity as a Pakistani National of white British ethnicity informs many aspects of his practice.  He is a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, and a Stanley Picker Fellowship award holder. In 2016, he was shortlisted for the V&A Jameel Prize.

David currently lives in Bristol and is a studio holder at Spike Island.

Works

Drawings In Time

Textile Intervention

CV

  • Fine Art BA, Wimbledon School of Art, (1980)
  • the Picker Fellowship in Sculpture, Kingston University (1980-81)
  • Transart Institute, Berlin/NYC, MFA New Media (2007-2010)

  • The Glory of the Garden, Koel Gallery, Karachi  (2019)
  • Pioneer Sculpture Residency, Khushab, Punjab     (2018)
  • Lahore Literature Festival, “The Age of Wonder”, Public Art Project (2015)
  • “Sindh Art Festival” commissioned project (Sir Harry Bartle Frere’s Mausoleum) A garden intervention with Adeela Suleman), Frere Hall, Karachi (2014)
  • “Gardens of Babel” solo showing Rhotas-2 Gallery, Lahore  (2011)
  • “Half-Life” with Huma Mulji, two person show, NCA Gallery, Lahore  (2009)

  • Lie of the Land, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes (2019)
  • Lahore Biennale (2018)
  • Karachi Biennale (2017)
  • Jameel Prize-4, V&A, 
    • A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan (2018)
    • Asia Culture Centre,
      Gwangju, Korea (2017)
    • Pera Museum, Istanbul (2016)
  • Taqseem, Koel Gallery, Karachi (2017)
  • The Missing One, OCA, Oslo (2016)
  • How We Mark the Land, Gandhara-Art-Space, Karachi (2016)
  • Hopes of Paradise, Grosvenor Gallery, London (2016)
  • The Architecture of Life, BAMPFA, Berkeley University, California (2016)
  • Dhaka Art Summit (2016)
  • 8th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2014)
  • The Garden of Ideas, Agha Khan Museum, Toronto, inaugural show, curated by Sharmini Pereira (2014-15)
  • “A Beautifiul Life” The Pier-2 Art District (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)  (2012)
  • “The Divided Self” video works, Sought Foundation, Philadelphia (2012)
  • “Beautiful Life” Creative Hinkley (Hinkley, UK)     (2012
  • “Lines of Control” British Council, London (2011)
  • “Beautiful Life” South Hill Park (Bracknell, UK)     (2011)

  • V&A Jameel Prize – Shortlisted (2016)
  • Stanley Picker Fellowship (1980-1981)

 

  • Selected works in Public collections:
  • A number of works in the Pakistan National Collection, Islamabad 1990 – onwards
  • “Art Caravan” 1994, Karachi Metropolitan Council, Karachi
  • “Heart Mahal” 1999, collaborative project, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
  • “Aviation Fuel Tanker/collaboration” 1999, Pvt. collection, Fukuoka, Japan
  • “Very Very Sweet Medina” 2000, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
  • “Hyde Park Kashan, 1862” 2011 Fundacion AMA, Santiago, Chile
  • “United Kingdoms” 2014 Agha Khan Museum, Toronto
  • “Garden Palimpsest” 2010, HH Sh. Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi