Thasil Suhara Backer

Thasil Suhara Backer is a self-taught art practitioner, formally trained in Theatre Arts. Over the last eight years, Thasil has developed hybrid forms synthesizing photography, sculptural assemblages, performances, and essays to examine vernacular meta-relics. Engaging both incorporeal and corporeal data, Thasil's practice navigates ordinary, geopolitical, and archival landscapes and locations across the archipelago.

Group Exhibitions:

Vantage Point Sharjah 12, Sharjah Art Foundation, Curated by Sara Al Mheiri, Curator, SAF, (UAE), 2024.
Deep Objekt [ ]: Agency at the Computational Turn, Foreign Objekt, Curated by Sepideh Majidi, (Virtual), 2024.
Care is Art, Art is Care, Curated by the Insight of an Eco Artist & Underground Art and Design, (Virtual), 2024.
Permanent Conference, Curated by Shristi Sainani, Gallery Navya, Delhi Art Week, (IN), 2023.
Annual state exhibition, Kerala Lalitkala Academy, (IN), 2023.

Theatre/Performances:

Open Studio Performance, CORPUS, Edition 1, A performance Intensive by Apre Art House, (IN), 2025.
Third Bodies, Beneath the same sky, Curated by Amu Josephina Mohan, A project by Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, (IN), 2025.
A non-violent kiss, Traces, Kolkata International Performance Art festival, (IN), 2020.
Manifesto, Landspaces, Curated by G.Vignesh, Organised by Atreyee Bhattacharjee, Art Houz Gallery, (IN), 2019.
Kurathi, written by Dr. M.N. Vinayakumar and directed by Abhimanyu Vinayakumar, (IN), 2019.
Open Studio Performance, Rural Butoh School, IruWay Farm, (IN), 2018.
Open Studio Performances, Inter-cultural Theatre Institute (SG), 2017-2018.
Fox Wedding, a devised theatre production directed by Varun Madhavan, (IN), 2017.
The Feast, Final year Individual Project (FIP), Central University of Hyderabad, (IN), 2016.
Mahapur, written by Satish Alekar, directed by Aniruddha Khutwad, (IN), 2016.
Nagamandala, written by Girish Kharnad, directed by Noushad Mohamed Kunju, (IN), 2015.
A Tempest, written by Aimé Césaire, directed by Kamaluddin Nilu, (IN), 2014.
A family history of Varkey, a devised theatre production directed by Surjith Gopinath, (IN), 2013.

Projects:

Muziris to Lakhpat, Project implemented by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund, (IN), (2023).

Contributions:

On silence, As Tranquil as Can Be, Raqs Media Collective, A Gathering with Silence, as part of the exhibition, Scores in Transit, Resonances of the Plural, at the Serendipity Arts Festival, (IN), 2025.
Ruins of Egmore, Perspectives, MAP Academy Blog, a project by Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), (IN), 2025.
Third Bodies: Unsettling Natures in Posthuman Ecologies, Writing Natures_Issue 2, Insubordinate Vitalities: Nature across Documentary, Issue Conceptualised and edited by Arushi Vats, Published by Shared Ecologies: A Shyama Foundation Initiative, (IN), 2025.
How to get ready for a protest, Home is Where the Hearts Strives, Anthology on Place and Sound, edited by Philipp Rhensius, Janina Neustupny, Thomas Burkhalter, Hannes Liechti, and Vinzent Maria Preuß (eds.), Published by Norient Sound, (CH), 2025.
Dialogical Body – Breathing in the ruins, Accompanying text for the fourth session of Educational Programme Bárawa: On freestyle~improvisation as aesthetic tool and strategy, Published by Journeys of OCEAN / UNI, TBA21 – Academy, (IT), 2025.
Mobility, Issue 20, Hakara: bilingual journal of creative expression, (IN), 2023.
Contemporary Pollution, Published by Elephant in the Room, Conflictorium, (IN), Stroom Den Haag, (NL),(2022).

Fellowships/Scholarships:

CORPUS Scholarship, CORPUS Edition 1, A performance Intensive by Apre Art House, (IN), 2025.
Young Artist Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2013–2014).

Contact: thasilsuharabacker@yahoo.com