Temsüyanger Longkumer
Temsüyanger Longkumer is a multimedia artist whose wide-ranging artistic practice spans video, sculpture, site-specific installation, printmaking and painting. Profoundly influenced by his upbringing in remote Northeast India, his work explores - in his words - ‘the socio-cultural traditions in ethnic societies, and the correlation between communities in the microbial world and our own.’
Temsüyanger’s practice shows his deep connection to the natural world and those whose live within it - whether in harmony or conflict. There is also a strong sense of mysticism and magic running through his imagery, informed by the songs and stories featuring ‘witches, elves, hairy forest monsters and friendly ghosts’ recalled from his childhood in tribal Nagaland. Temsüyanger moved to London in 2001, gaining an MA at the Royal College of Art in printmaking; his prints continue to play key role in his practice alongside working in terracotta. These abstracted, organic sculptures focus on the mysterious world of microorganisms but are also reminiscent of curvaceous landscapes and the human body, with skin (or scale) - like surfaces. In these works, the artist’s additions of pins and spikes appear both menacing and protective, representing nature’s wily ability to deceive.
Temsüyanger has undertaken artistic residencies in Cambridge (UK), Paris, New Delhi, and Pisteletto (Italy). His work has been exhibited internationally at renowned institutions including the Museum der Kulturn, Basel, Switzerland and the Pitts Rivers Museum, Oxford. Temsüyanger was also selected to show at the Kochi-Murizis Biennale, India in 2019 and the the Singapore Biennale in 2020. His work was the subject of a solo exhibition at Standpoint Gallery, London, in 2018, and he exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (2022). Temsüyanger’s work ‘Tattooed Memory’ (created from a body cast of the artist, pictured above) is held in the permanent collection of the Horniman Museum, London. Most recently, Temsuyanger’s multimedia installation ‘home’ was exhibited at the Venice International Film Festival (August 2023). We were proud to present new work by Temsüyanger in Drop Shadows from 1-14 March 2024 in a collaborative exhibition with Sims Reed Gallery.
Temusyanger lives in east London.