Benitha Perciyal is a native of Tiruvannamalai. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts (Drawing) and M.A. in Fine Arts (Printing) from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, where she continues to be based.. She is one of India’s finest artists. She is fond of natural colours/pigments. She is an illustrator who creates colours for her paintings from tree barks, tea leaves, and other natural materials without affecting the environment. Not only that, Benitha Perciyal is a unique muralist. She sculpts the images that come to mind while facing life, in the form of sculpting in soil and wood.
Perciyal’s art consists of natural media such as herbs and oils that are made into incense: myrrh, cinnamon, cloves, cedar, Frankincense, lemongrass, and bark powder, which require months or years of curing. The pedestals on which her art is presented are fabricated from seasoned and scarred wood, adding to a sense of timeless antiquity, at odds with the contemporary world. She was featured in the Kochi-Muziris Bienniale in 2014, and her works have been included in the past two decades at galleries such as Latitude 28 in New Delhi and The Noble Sage in London.
In the Tamil sculptural tradition, the practice of using limestone as a substitute for granite has been in vogue for a long time. Benitha Perciyal is a sculptor who sculpts memories. Her works are on display in many major museums around the world. For her, art is the effect of the transformation of memory and its uncertainty.
Benitha Perciyal participated in the event on 16.04.2020 of the Cuckoo Live Conversations. It was a conversation with a contemporary great creator who uses painting and sculpture as a means of inner liberation. This should be seen by every mind that loves art.