Contemporary Indian artist Kulpreet Singh, a participant in the 6th Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), has been awarded the prestigious Hayward Gallery–Kochi-Muziris Biennale (HG-KMB) Award. The honour will see Singh present his first institutional solo exhibition in the United Kingdom.
Titled Indelible Black Marks, the project will open at the Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space in London on June 16 and run until August 2. The presentation is co-organised by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and supported by the TNQ Foundation.
The HG-KMB Award is an initiative designed to provide a South Asian artist from the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26 with an opportunity to exhibit in the UK, marking a significant international platform for emerging practices from the region.
Singh’s work centres on the agricultural landscapes of Punjab, engaging deeply with themes of land, labour, and ecological degradation. His multidisciplinary installation combines film and painting to examine the entangled crises of climate change and agrarian distress. Drawing from his lived experience as a farmer in Patiala, Singh’s project foregrounds the ritual of stubble burning, where crop residue is set alight to prepare fields for the next cycle of cultivation.
The exhibition features a film documenting performers carrying large canvases across burning fields, alongside an abstract five-panel painting created using fire and stubble ash. Together, the works evoke the environmental and human cost of extractive agricultural practices.
Jitish Kallat, President of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, noted that Singh’s practice brings urgency to global ecological concerns. “His work emerges from a deep engagement with land and its histories, speaking powerfully to the environmental and human consequences of extraction and depletion. We are delighted that this award will support the presentation of his work in London,” he said.
The exhibition is curated by Rachel Thomas, Roden Chief Curator at the Hayward Gallery, with Ananya Jain, Curatorial Assistant. It is supported by the RC Foundation, with additional support from TNQ Foundation, Chennai.
Reflecting on the recognition, Singh described the opportunity as deeply meaningful. “To present my work at the Hayward Gallery allows me to bring attention to issues that resonate globally—about land, environment, and farming,” he said. He also highlighted the philosophical underpinnings of his practice, drawing from Sikh teachings: “Through remembering the Divine (Naam), may one remain in high spirits (Chardi Kala), and in your will, may there be well-being for all (Sarbat da Bhala).”
Singh’s recent exhibitions include Fossils of Force at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai (2025), All Stories Are About Us: A Climate Recipes Survey at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts (2025), and earlier presentations at Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi.
Cover Image: Artist Kulpreet Singh, Indelible Black Marks, 2022–ongoing, Anand Warehouse, Mattancherry, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025
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