Ms Hema Shironi UMISAF Alumna from Sri Lanka &Winner of Asia Arts Future (South Asia) Award- AAGCA 2026 multidisciplinary artist

News Asia Society, India - 2nd December 2025

Ms. Hema Shironi is a UMISAA Alumna, and her named Winner of Asia Arts Future (South Asia) Award- AAGCA 2026 multidisciplinary artist. Her wide-ranging artistic practice combines embroidery, mythological imagery, bricolage, and installation to inquire concepts of cultural identity. Her work is deeply rooted in observance of the history of colonization, civil war, displacement and migration, which she highlights through personal stories and experiences of living in Sri Lanka. As a child, her family often moved from one place to another and she eventually found herself questioning the bonds that communities and individuals make.

Her work is driven by the nostalgia of the numerous places she has called home and how each community belonging to those places grapples with concerns of language, culture, memory, myth, gender, and equality.

Shironi completed her MFA at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore (2019) and her BFA from the Ramanathan Fine Arts Academy, University of Jaffna (2014). Her work has been featured at Assembling Grounds: Practices of Coexistence, ZKM Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (2025); (Un)Layering the Future Past of South Asia : Young Artist Voices, SOAS Gallery, London, UK (2025); KALĀ Commune, J.D.A. Perera Gallery, Colombo (2024); the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane (2024); the 13th Taipei Biennial: Small World, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei (2024), Delhi Contemporary Art Week, New Delhi (2024), Art Mumbai, Mumbai (2024), Critical Zones, J.D.A Perera Gallery, Colombo (2022) and Colomboscope, Colombo (2022 and 2019). She has also participated in an Artist Residency at House of Kal, Sri Lanka (2021). Her work is in the permanent collection of the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.

2026 Asia Arts Future (South Asia) Award

At the 10th annual Asia Arts Game Changer Awards India 2026, the distinguished Asia Arts Future (South Asia) Award was presented to Hema Shironi — recognising her as one of South Asia’s most promising contemporary artists whose work signals a vibrant future for the region’s art scene.

Now celebrating a decade of spotlighting innovation, experimentation and boundary-pushing art, the AAGCA continues to elevate voices that redefine visual culture across South Asia. The 2026 edition not only reflects on the evolving trajectory of art in the region but also reaffirms the commitment of Asia Society India Centre to nurture emerging artistry and cross-cultural dialogue.

Hema Shironi’s award places her among a growing roster of artists whose creative practices are shaping new aesthetic and social narratives — and underscores the importance of emerging voices in interpreting and influencing the future of South Asian art.

As the global art world watches, Shironi’s recognition at AAGCA 2026 offers optimism for what lies ahead — a future where young, bold, and culturally rooted artists from South Asia gain greater visibility and platform.