Nicola Anthony

Known for her large-scale text sculptures and public commissions, Nicola Anthony (b.1984) encompasses sculpture, installation, drawing, written word and collaboration. Informed by her British Indian roots, her works explore contemporary issues by giving voice to unspoken stories and narratives that connect with history, people and places.

Drawing on both individual and collective experience, Anthony’s works explore the inherent possibilities of language using the versatility and power of the written word. Often imbuing source texts with a powerful materiality that links past and present, within her works there is an opennessto re-interpretation and wordplay as a way to explore, subvert or challenge the status quo.

Her work is included in numerous public and private collections including the Goldrich Family Foundation, US; The Ingram Collection, UK; the AstraZeneca corporate collection and the University of Galway, Ireland. Significant public commissions include Remembering our Father’s Words, (2018) for Steven Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation, Los Angeles; National University of Ireland (commissioned by European City of Culture 2020); Our Time, Lim Chin Tsong Palace, Myanmar, (2020) and Unexpected Happiness at the National Design Centre, Singapore, (2018).

Recent permanent sculptures include Murmuration at the University of Galway which was unveiled in 2023 and in the same year, she created her largest artwork to date, Metamorphosis, a light projection that illuminated the 100m tall façade of Liverpool Cathedral.

Anthony was born in London in 1984 and lives and works in the UK. She graduated from Loughborough University in 2006 (supported by Tate Britain) and she was awarded the Astrazeneca Commission shortly thereafter. She represented the UK at the Dubai Expo (2020) and her work has been included in numerous exhibitions worldwide including a solo exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum (2017) and the Kuala Lumpur Biennale (2018) among others. She is a Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2021) finalist and the recipient of New Voices of Ireland (2019).