Nibha Akireddy: Practice Skin

Organized by Vanessa Perez Winder

The Frank-Ratchye Project Space is pleased to present Practice Skin, an exhibition by studio artist Nibha Akireddy. 

Known for her vibrant, multi-layered oil paintings, Nibha Akireddy merges personal narratives with speculative futures, cultural memory, and vernacular art forms to explore the body as a vessel for storytelling. In Practice Skin, she turns her focus to tattooing as a profound means of inscribing  connection, transformation, and healing onto the skin. Drawing from encounters with women tattoo artists of color and research into South Asian and other non-Western design traditions, her works feature intricate detailing and saturated hues that evoke the tactile depth of skin, while vibrating textures recall the buzz of a tattoo machine.  Central to the exhibition is Akireddy’s incorporation of muggulu, South Indian designs that reflect notions of (im)permanence and cycles of wellness and self-renewal. These motifs are paired alongside sculptural and ephemeral offerings that further question the stability of cultural and personal identity in an ever-changing world. Practice Skin invites audiences to reconsider the ‘marks’ we leave—on the body and within the landscapes of memory and experience.