Sosa Joseph is widely recognised as one of the most dynamic voices in contemporary figurative painting. Her work is distinguished by a haunting lyricism that evokes the textures of everyday life in South India, while engaging deeply with universal themes of memory, womanhood, resilience and loss.
A graduate of the Raja Ravi Varma College of Fine Arts and the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Joseph’s practice resonates with the narrative and allegorical sensibilities of the Baroda School, while forging her own path by translating these traditions through a distinctly female lens of tenderness, complexity and subversion. her paintings are characterised by translucent layers and vivid tonal shifts that coalesce into an emotionally charged figurative language. While making use of allegorical storytelling to challenge social taboos, Joseph’s strength lies in her unique ability to embed abstracted figures in intimate, quotidian moments that elevate the universal meaning of women’s lives.
Joseph has been included in exhibitions at the Jenhangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Mumbai (2022); 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017); Stedelijk Museum (2015) and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2012). Her work is held in prominent public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.
