Chathuri Nissansala (b.1993, Colombo) is a multidisciplinary artist working with performance art,painting, sculpture, and graphics. Her works raise poignant questions about notions of gender, class, queerness, and nationalism in Sri Lanka. A recipient of The Commonwealth Scholarship, South East Asia by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, ICCR (2012), Chathuri acquired a Bachelor's in Fine Arts (Painting) from Chitra Kala Parishath, Bengaluru (2017) and a Master's in Visual Arts (Painting) from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara (2019).She’s been nominated for “The Emerging Artist Award (2022-23 years)”, by The Arts Family, London. A recipient of the year 2023, the ‘Prince Claus Seed Award’, by the Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands. Awarded residency from the year 2024 at Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Chathuri will be taking on the role of intersectional advisor for the ‘ Queer Stitches’ project at Textile museum , Tilburg Netherlands from 2024.

She/They has performed and exhibited across Asia, some of these including a solo exhibition ‘Ritualizing the disfigured: Memorials of healing from Sri Lanka’ by Anant art gallery ( 2021), solo exhibition ‘Ritualizing Mutant encounters’ at Barefoot Gallery Colombo ( 2024) ; ‘ This land is not mine, mother!’ exhibition curated by Natasha Ginwala at the SNAFU building part of Colomboscope edition; performed at the 2024 ‘ Way of the Forest’ curated by Natasha Ginwala, Hitmang Gurang, Sarker Protik, Sheelasha Rajbandria; ‘ The Order of Nature’ , project by Geoffrey Bawa Trust on hidden queer histories, architecture and landscape of Lunuganga gardens designed by architect Geoffrey Bawa a research and installations were created by Thilini Perera, Shenuka Correa and Chathuri Nissansala; performance lecture at T works ( trans disciplinary performance company) 2024 open academy edition at Singapore; performed at the Prince Claus Symposium ‘ Legacies of Care, Failures and Emerging Solidarities’ at the Lunuganga Gardens in Sri Lanka.

‘Crafting the Cross Roads’, four personnel exhibition curated by Somedutta Malik at Dhi art space Hyderabad(2022);”queernocopia” curated by Myna Mukherjee under engendered platform Delhi, NFT, and physical group show(2022); “Momentum of smell” group exhibition initiated by Mullegama Art center, Sovereign ASian Art Foundation(2022)Rehang, curated by Uthra Rajgopal and Anant art, Bikaner House, Delhi ( 2021) Responses to Memory, curated by Oorja Garg at Gillehri Arts initiative (2020); 15th Virtual Concert: Celebrating Women’s Month in South Africa, curated by Bernadette Muthien (2020); Umnyama 2020, curated by Pranamita Borgohain and organized by Young Hearts, India (2020); Lock Unlock: Edition 9 organized by Dagmar Glaustnitzer Smith (2020); Webinars organized by Hexxyduxxybox performance art collective including The Action Poetry, curated by Frank Bready Trejo (2020); Be-coming Tree, curated by Jatun Risba, O.Pen, Danielle Imara, and Chris Grady (2020) (online) and Performance Art Project: Asia in collaboration with Rah Residency, Iran (2020). She also participated in the Student’s Biennale, Kochi Muziris Biennale, India (2016).

She has participated in various workshops and residences including ‘ ‘ All right Angles’ residency by Colomboscope and Geoffrey Bawa Trust ( 2023) ; ‘Kal’, a collaboration between a district school in Berlin, Archive books, Goethe institute Karachi and Colombo(2021),‘ kal’ extension exhibited at 12 gates Philadelphia; “Naam” was a project collaborated with “WE ARE FROM HERE” collective generating conversation on preserving heritage sites and current political situation of displacement, a series of online discussions Chronicles of Confinement, organized by Hector Canonge, New York (2020); Artsathone, organized by British Council, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2019) and Body workshop, facilitated by Nikhil Chopra and Madhavi Ghore, organized by HH Artspace in collaboration with Asia Art Archive and Serendipity Art Foundation, Vadodara (2017).

She/They formed an initiative called ‘KAGUL’ , which is an incubator for research on Sri Lanka’ Southern performative textile traditions and gender studies in them. KAGUL initiated a project called ‘FE’ to educate , create awareness and to create pockets of artisans as pockets of entrepreneurship( these pockets of artisans are from the marginal groups such as queer community,sex workers, women from rural areas). Nachchi Samayama is another collective project initiated by her to document , research and map the community called ‘Nachchi’. Nachchi’s is a term to address queer community used in the local folk language; these individuals have been existing for more than centuries as part of ritualistic acts in traditional and cultural domains.