Ambika Trasi creates installations and sculptures that call back to historical traditions of assemblage. By bringing together her own sculptures and paintings, as well as found and archival materials, images, and footage, her works reveal how coloniality and other systems of power are encoded into historical objects, commodities, sites, and interpersonal relationships. She is interested in how the circulation of cultural material can shift and destabilize power dynamics.
Trasi uses sound and performance as modes of intervention in her installations, often incorporating ready-made instruments or creating new ones from contact mics, air pumps, and motors. Through these methods, her installations become third spaces, wherein abstraction, animality, and hybridity act as tools to counteract, queer, and reshape established structures. In these spaces, affect gives way to collective reflection, speculation, rupture, and kinship, upending persistent hegemonies and allowing for new possibilities to emerge.
Trasi has exhibited her work in group shows at Arthur Ross Gallery, Practice Gallery, and Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia; as well as Heroes Gallery, New York. She has presented performances and screenings at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia; Asia Art Archive in America, Brooklyn; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; and HANGAR - Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon. Alongside her art practice, Trasi has worked as an arts organizer, curator, and writer for over 13 years, contributing her labor to various collaborative platforms, artist collectives, and major arts institutions, most notably the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her writing has been published in exhibition catalogues and arts journals both online and in print. She earned her B.F.A. from New York University in 2010 and her M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2026.
Email: ambika.trasi@gmail.com / Instagram: @atrasities
Photo: Micah Barrett
Artist CV
EDUCATION
2026 M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Awards and Honors: 2025 Stuart Egnal Scholarship Award for outstanding performance in any medium; 2026 Chair’s Discretionary Award for distinctive achievement in creative art; 2026 Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship Nominee
2012 New York University, Coursework towards Certificate in Arts Management, New York, NY
2010 New York University, B.F.A. in Studio Art, , Concentration in printmaking; minor in South Asian Studies, New York, NY
Awards and Honors: 2006-2010 Dean’s List; 2010 Founders' Day Award
SELECT EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES, AND SCREENINGS
2026 Under Scores: 2026 UPenn MFA Thesis Exhibition, curated by Emily Zimmerman, Arthur Ross Gallery, Philadelphia, May 1-31
2026 Reliquary, Practice Gallery, Philadelphia, Feb 6-Mar 1
2026 They’re Not All Winners (But They’ll All Taste Great), performance, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts / Out of the Dark Performance Festival, Feb 7 and 21
2025 slow blunt painful and incredibly inefficient: 1st Year MFA Exhibition, curated by David Hartt, Charles Addams Gallery, Philadelphia, Jan 23-Feb 14
2024 12Gates & PAAFF's Contemporary Video Art Exhibition 2024, Twelve Gates Arts Gallery in collaboration with the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, Nov 2
2024 Dawn Chorus, sound exhibition and exhibition, organized by PM BOOKS, Brooklyn, Sep 8-Oct 5
2023 The Soul of the White Ant II, lecture-performance for Tracing Histories, Asia Art Archive in America, co-organized by Asia Art Archive in America and Asian American Arts Alliance, Brooklyn, Jul 19
2022 Eco/Systems, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, Mar 5–Jul 31
2022 Shanta Rao and the Tiger, lecture-performance, Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, May 13
2022 Gnaw, Heroes Gallery, New York, Feb 26–Mar 10
2018 NYU Art Alumni Show, exhibition, curated by Chrissie Iles, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, Gallery One, 80 Washington Square East New York, NY, Oct 26–Nov 4
2017 The Soul of the White Ant, lecture-performance, presented by 1010 Residency, at Bushwick Open Studios, Brooklyn, Sep 24
2017 Soul of the White Ant, lecture-performance, HANGAR - Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon, Mar 24
2017 Remix Rememory, No Longer Empty Curatorial Lab, Jamaica Colosseum, Queens, Dec 3-18
2016 Everyone In Their Own Way, Arts Guild of New Jersey, Rahway, NJ, Mar 20–Apr 14
2016 Patterns of Interaction II, Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee, Apr 30
2014 Patterns of Interaction I In Focus: An Afternoon of Film and Video, screening, the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, New York, NY, Dec 14
RESIDENCIES / SEMINARS / ADDITIONAL SCHOLARSHIP
2025 Student - “Innovative Rural-Scape",” SEU-Penn Summer School, Southeast University, School of Architecture, and UPenn’s Weitzman School of Design, Nanjing, China, May 22-Jun 6
2025 Fellow - Sachs Professor Research Fellow for Paul Pfeiffer, Sachs Visiting Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, 2024-2025, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2023 Student - Research-Based Practice for Creative Writers, facilitated by An Duplan
2021-22 Student - Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program, New York, 2021-2022 Session: Differencing Art
2021 Student - Black Arts Movement School Modality, Session I: Focus on Chicago
2018 Participant - Asia Art Archive in America, Brooklyn, Leadership Camp
2017 Artist-in-residence - HANGAR - Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon, Portugal
2017 Artist-in-residence - 1010 Residency, New York, NY
2014 Artist-in-residence - Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
LECTURES / VISITING CRITIC / ARTIST TALKS
2026 Lecturer, Kevin Beasley: A view of a landscape - Creative Research with Ani Liu, UPenn, Philadelphia
2025 Artist Talk - Art and Social Work, UPenn, Philadelphia
2024 Moderator - A screening of CAMP’s Al Jaar Qanla Daar, The Neighbor Before the House, followed by a conversation with the artists and Ambika Trasi, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, Nov 7
2024 Moderator - An Afternoon Dedicated to Power / Play with curator Ambika Trasi with featured artists Sophia Balagamwala and Noormah Jamal, Twelve Gates Arts Gallery, May 11
2023 Moderator - Artist talk: Abir Karmakar with curator Ambika Trasi, Aicon Contemporary, New York, Nov 2
2023 Moderator - Artist talk: Maya Varadaraj with curator Ambika Trasi, Aicon Contemporary, New York, Aug 3
2022 Panelist - Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program Symposium, moderated by Meleko Mokgosi and Cassandra Guan, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, May 13
2022 Moderator - Embodied Dualities, panel discussion with Sarika Goulatia, Rit Premnath, and Kaveri Raina, National Indo American Museum, Apr 10
2022 Panelist - Beyond In/Visibility: the Politics of Asian American Representation in American Art, College Art Association Conference 2022, Chicago (virtual), Feb 19
2021 Moderator - Ask a Curator with Jane Panetta: Jennifer Packer: The Eye Is Not Satisfied With Seeing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Dec 1
2021 Moderator - Ask a Curator with Elisabeth Sherman: Dawoud Bey: An American Project, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 6
2021 Moderator - A Space for Monsters: artists Maryam Hoseini, Kaveri Raina, and Anjuli Rathod in conversation with curator Ambika Trasi, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, Apr 8
2021 Artist / panelist - Pratt > FORWARD: Artists Creating Opportunities for Artists & Sustaining your Practice, Pratt Institute, New York, with Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, Titus Kaphar, Ambika Trasi, Jane South and Mickelene Thomas, Apr 1
2021 Panelist - Curators in Conversation: Christopher Y. Lew and Ambika Trasi, IFA Contemporary Asia, The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, Mar 22
2021 Lecturer - Ambika Trasi: Behind the (Art) Scene Series, SUNY Purchase School of Art and Design, New York, moderated by Sharmistha Ray, Mar 10
2020 Panelist - Ask a Curator, with Christopher Y. Lew and Ambika Trasi: Salman Toor: How Will I Know, moderated by Melinda Lang, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Feb 4
2020 Moderator - Salman Toor in conversation with Chitra Ganesh, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Nov 16
2020 Organizer and moderator - On Place as Palimpsest: Zalika Azim and Maya Jeffereis in Conversation with Ambika Trasi, Tulsa Artist Fellowship Institute, Aug 28
2020 Organizer and moderator - Artist Talk and Q&A with Nirmal Raja: On “Feeble Barriers” and “The Wall Within,” South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC), New York, moderator, Aug 4
2020 Moderator - Umber Majeed and Ambika Trasi in conversation, Twelve Gates Art, Philadelphia, May 19
2020 Lecturer - Who is seen vs. unseen?: Race and Gender Relations within Institutions and Museum Spaces, Studio Art Practice MFA Program, School of Visual Arts, New York, moderated by Baseera Khan, Jul 20
2020 Lecturer - Curating How Will I Know, History of Art Department, SUNY FIT, New York, Apr 1
2019 Panelist - All Together Now: Artists' Collectives Push and Pull, College Art Association (CAA) Conference 2019, New York, Feb 16
2018 Panelist - Stories from the Asian Diaspora: Community Organizers & Activists, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, Feb 15
2017 Panelist - Diasporic Conventions, Movement Research Festival, Abrons Arts Center, New York, Nov 29
2014 Panelist - Screening and Q&A: Patterns of Interaction / In Focus, An Afternoon of Film and Video, the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC), Dec 14
CURATION
2024 Curator, Power / Play, Twelve Gates Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, Mar 15-May 18
2023 Curator, Nightjar: Abir Karmakar, Aicon Contemporary, New York, Nov 2-Dec 2
2023 Curator, Maya Varadaraj: No Feeling is Final, Aicon Contemporary, New York, Aug 3-Sep 9
2021 Curator, A Space for Monsters, Twelve Gates Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, Feb 5-Apr 11
2020-21 Curator, Salman Toor: How Will I Know, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Nov 13, 2020-Apr 4, 2021
2022 Curatorial Assistant, Jennifer Packer: The Eye Is Not SatisfiedWith Seeing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Oct 30, 2021–Apr 17
2019-21 Curatorial Assistant, Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Nov 22, 2019-Feb 20, 2021
2021 Curatorial Assistant, Dawoud Bey: An American Project, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Apr 17–October 3
2019-20 Curatorial Assistant, Pope.L: Choir, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Oct 10, 2019-Mar 8, 2020
2018-19 Curatorial Assistant, Kevin Beasley: A view of a landscape, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Dec 15, 2018–Mar 10, 2019
2018 Curatorial Assistant, Eckhaus Latta: Possessed, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Aug 3-Oct 8
2017 Exhibition Manager, Archival Alchemy, Abrons Arts Center at the Henry Street Settlement, New York, organized by the South Asian Womxn’s Creative Collective, Apr 6-May 10
2016 Curatorial Assistant, FIELD MEETING Take 4: Thinking Practice, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Asia Society Museum, New York, organized by Asia Contemporary Art Week, Nov 11-12
2016 Exhibition Manager, welcome to what we took from is the state, Queens Museum, Queens, organized by the South Asian Womxn’s Creative Collective, March 12-April 2
2015 Curatorial Assistant, FIELD MEETING Take 3: Thinking Performance, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hunter College Art Galleries, and Performa Hub, New York, organized by Asia Contemporary Art Week, Oct 31-Nov 2
2015 Curatorial Assistant, Lee Mingwei’s Sonic Blossom, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, co-organized by Asia Contemporary Art Week, Oct 30–Nov 8
2015 Curatorial Assistant, THINKING CURRENTS, Seattle Art Fair, Seattle, Jul 30-Aug 2
2015 Co-curator, FIELD MEETING Take 2: An Afterthought, Hosted by My Art Guides, Venice Meeting Point at the Arsenale, Navy Officer’s Club, a collateral event during the 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, May 8
2014 Curatorial Assistant, FIELD MEETING Take 1: Critical of the Future, Asia Society Museum, New York, organized by Asia Contemporary Art Week, Oct 26–27
2014 Curatorial Assistant, Arahmaiani: Fertility of the Mind, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York, Jan 9-Feb 22
PUBLICATIONS
2024 “Sangram Majumdar: Choreographed Gestures” essay for the exhibition catalogue, somewhere elsewhere: Sangram Majumdar, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke and Jak Printers, Mumbai
2023 “Abir Karmakar’s Invisible Eye,” curatorial essay for the exhibition catalogue, Nightjar, Aicon Contemporary, New York
2023 “Dear Maya: An Epistolary Curatorial Essay,” curatorial essay for the exhibition catalogue, Maya Varadaraj: No Feeling is Final, Aicon Contemporary, New York
2023 “A Scream, A Growl,” Artist Pages published in Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas journal, Vol 8: Issue 1-2 (May 2023): Imagining an Interval: Towards a Potential Asian and Diasporic American Art History(ies), Edited by Grace Yasumura and Z. Serena Qiu
2022 Artist entry for Alex Anderson in Clay Pop, published by Rizzoli New York, edited by Alia Dahl
2022 “Alex Anderson and Michael Stamm,” press release, Deli Gallery, New York
2020 “The Persistent Colonial Gaze: Tipu’s Tiger, Then and Now,” Arcade Project
2020 “The Self as Cipher: Salman Toor’s Narrative Paintings,” curatorial essay for Salman Toor: How Will I Know, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2017 “20 Years of the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective,” Archival Alchemy exhibition catalogue, the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, New York
2016 “Curatorial Narrative, FIELD MEETING Take 4: Thinking Practice,”IBRAAZ Journal for Contemporary Visual Culture in North Africa and the Middle East, London
2016 Introduction to Welcome to what we took from is the state, exhibition catalogue essay, the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, New York
2015 Curatorial Narrative, FIELD MEETING Take 3: Thinking Performance, Asia Contemporary Art Week
PRESS
2024 South Asian childhood seen through a lens of metaphor and play, in ‘Power/Play’ at Twelve Gates Arts, Vriddhi Vinay, Artblog, Philadelphia, May 13
2022 Jennifer Packer Shows Us the Responsibility of Seeing, by Seph Rodney, Hyperallergic, Feb 8
2022 Salman Toor: From Pakistan with Love, interview with Salman Toor by David Molesky, Juxtapoz Magazine, Winter Issue, Dec 15
2022 Artists Raise $85K for Relief in Flood-Stricken Pakistan, by Valentina Di Liscia, Hyperallergic, Oct 3
2022 How Salman Toor Left the Old Masters Behind, artist profile by Calvin Tomkins, The New Yorker, Aug 1
2021 Best of 2021: Our Top 10 New York City Art Shows, by Debra Brehmer, Hyperallergic, Dec 7
2021 Curating South Asian Voices With Care, interview with the South Asian Institute, Chicago, Apr 18
2021 Magical and visceral, 12 Gates Arts embraces ‘A Space for Monsters,’ review by Corey Qureshi, Artblog, Philadelphia, Mar 5
2021 Salman Toor at the Whitney, review by Karen Wilkin, The New Criterion, March Issue
2021 Salman Toor’s ‘How Will I Know’ Exhibition At Whitney Museum Is A Homecoming For The ‘Other,’ Nahal Amouzadeh, WNET: All Arts, Feb 23
2021 Painting Here And Now, review by Marina Molarsky-Beck, Texte Zur Kunst, Jan 22
2021 Pakistani Artist Salman Toor's Success Was a Surprise, Cody Delistraty, Wall Street Journal, Jan 16
2020 Salman Toor, a Painter at Home in Two Worlds, review by Roberta Smith, The New York Times, Dec. 23
2020 Salman Toor's Visual Autofiction, exhibition review by Cleo Roberts, Ocula, Dec 22
2020 Salman Toor’s “How Will I Know”, review by Murtaza Vali, e-flux Criticism, Dec 4
2020 Salman Toor’s Dreamy Scenes Imagine the Queer, South Asian Everyday, Isabel Ling, Hyperallergic, Dec 1
2020 Cosmopolitan Other: Salman Toor, David Everitt Howe, Mousse Magazine, Jun 30
2020 Goings On About Town: Salman Toor, Johanna Fateman, New Yorker, July 6 & 13
2020 Three online exhibitions honouring Pride Month, Gabriella Angeleti, José da Silva and Gareth Harris, The Art Newspaper, Jun 26
2020 Two Artists, Two Views of the Human Figure, by Ted Loos, The New York Times, Mar 11
2019 Best of 2019: Our Top NYC Art Shows, by Dessane Lopez Cassell, Hyperallergic, Dec 10
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Aug 2025-May 2026 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Research Assistant to Sondra Perry, Sachs Visiting Professor, Department of Fine Arts
Jan 2026-Apr 2026 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Teaching Assistant for Creative Research with Ani Liu,
Sept 2025-Dec 2025 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Teaching Assistant for Sound Studio: Listening Beyond Hearing with Victoria Keddie
Jan 2025-Apr 2025 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Teaching Assistant for Art and Social Work with Ernesto Pujol and Toorjo Ghose
Apr 2022–Jul 2023 Josh Kline Studio, New York, NY, Studio Manager
Aug 2017–Apr 2022 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Curatorial Assistant
Jan 2013-Jan 2017 Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW), New York, NY, Managing Director and Curatorial Assistant
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
2017-ongoing Visiting artist and critic at various residency programs including NARS Foundation, Smack Mellon, ISPC Residency, EFA Project Space, Hyde Park Art Center, and more
2025 Contributor to Oral History Project, South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), Philadelphia
2024 Juror for 2023 Ground Floor Residency, International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn
2021 Selection panelist, Tulsa Artist Fellowship for 2022–2023 fellowship, Tulsa, OK
2021 Juror for Diasporic Rhizome, virtual exhibition, South Asia Institute, Chicago, IL
2015-21 Volunteer board member and Co-chair; Exhibition Manager for annual visual arts exhibitions, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC), New York
2018 Juror for 2019 International Artist Residency, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY