Bharti Kher was born in London in 1969 to Indian parents. At 23 she moved to New Delhi in India, where she lives and works today.

Her work encompasses painting, sculpture and installation. In 1995, Kher was struck by a woman in a market wearing a bindi on her forehead. She asked the woman where it came from and went straight to the store. ‘I walked in and said, “Give me all the serpent bindis you have.” Since that “supernova moment” in 1995, bindis have become Kher’s signature materials.

Traditionally a mark of pigment applied to the forehead of Hindu men and women to symbolize the ‘third eye’, today, the bindi is commercially manufactured and has become a popular decorative item for girls and women of other religions. Kher views the daily ritual of applying this third eye as offering the possibility of seeing the world with fresh eyes. She uses this tiny object to transform various objects and surfaces allowing the viewer to look at them anew.

Bharti Kher, an Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Artist-in-Residence, discusses the inspiration behind and making of her new façade installation, called Not All Who Wander Are Lost. Kher's project reflects on maritime travel, highlighted by her interest in mapping and typography and references the migration of people in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Bharti Kher, The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own with specialist James Sevier. The Contemporary Art Evening Auction to be held at Sotheby's New Bond Street on Monday 28th June includes some of the most exciting works to appear on the open market in recent years.

Exhibitions include

Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2014)
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London (2012)
the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (2012)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2010)
Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria (2009)
South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2007)
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (2006)