Neeli Malik

Neeli Malik is a graduate of BFA Fine Art from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. She specialises in silkscreen and photo-intaglio printmaking. She received training at London Print Studio and studied MA Print at the Royal College of Art (2021-23). In 2021 she was awarded a Burberry Design Scholarship to sponsor her education at the RCA. 

Neeli’s practise is primarily concerned with vivid colourations, interweaving stories, human and nonhuman connections, and where we place ourselves in the world.

Her work has been exhibited in various galleries internationally, including the Oxford Museum of Natural History, the 6B Arts Centre (Paris) the An Táin Arts Centre (Ireland) and Southwark Park Galleries (London). She recently received funding from London Borough of Waltham Forest to develop her photography project: ‘100 Days of Groceries’, which was also featured in Printmaking Today magazine. She has also collaborated with the Oxford Art, Biodiversity & Climate Network, and was artist-in-residence at Oxford Ecosystems Lab, where she produced a body of work in relation to their research on woodland restoration.

My practise is concerned with the idea that anthropocentric decay is exacerbated by a widespread disconnection between humans and our environments. ‘Human exceptionalism’ or ‘Anthropocentrism’ is a mode of thinking that wrongly categorizes humanity as distinctly separate from nature. I want to propose the term ‘emergency intermergences’ - markers of collusions between humans as well as nonhumans in defiance of said separatism, to consciously or unconsciously un-do the isolation of Anthropocentrism:

•      inter-

1. between; among.
2. mutually; reciprocally

•      -merge

1. ‘to ‘immense oneself’; to ‘combine’.

•      emerge

1. become known; come to light

‘Emergency’ indicates that time is of the essence, we need to be present and in the now.

‘Intermergences’ acknowledge that kinship is an essential component in rethinking our place in the ecological composition of earth.

Emergency intermergences respond to our times and reflect our need for survival. Emergency intermergences form new and more sustainable collusions within ourselves, with each other, and with everything. Whether through the connections between people going about their daily lives, or through the organic symbiotic relationships that make up the planet and our earthly bodies: lichenous cityscapes, sprawling mycelium webs, squirming gut bacteria, and glowing coral structures. How can exploring these various forms of ‘emergency intermergences’ help us reimagine a world beyond the Anthropocene era we are living in?

To visually explore these concepts, I used both my own photography and found imagery to compose amalgamations to represent symbiotic organisms (using images of lichen, coral, moss, slime moulds, mycelium). The medium of print, traditionally used for the reproduction of images, begins to mirror cellular reproduction, as I trace the evolution of an image from photography, to drawing, to metal plates, to a myriad of vivid printed variations (intaglio, silkscreen, lithography).

My practise also expands to documenting glimpses of human connections and encounters - I have recently undertaken a project funded by London Borough of Waltham Forest to develop my ongoing photo-documentary project, ‘100 Days of Groceries’, which archives the images and stories of grocery stores as a lens through which to view communities both urban and rural. This project showcases glimpses of human encounters through the stories of the shopkeepers, and acts as a love-letter to our local greengrocers, fruit & veg stands, butchers, deli’s, corner shops and bakeries along our high streets.