A.M.M.A.A.
The Archive for Mapping Mother Artists in Asia

A.M.M.A.A. is a research-led platform dedicated to documenting, supporting, and amplifying the experiences of artists who are also caregivers. Rooted in a matricentric feminist framework, A.M.M.A.A. platforms caregiving as an intervention that shapes how art is imagined, sustained and practiced for those  performing caregiving roles in various capacities. 

Ours is an ongoing process of building spaces where artists can reflect on the inter-workings of creative practice and care through research, residencies, workshops, exhibitions, conversations and publications. Our initiatives and methods are designed to respond to the realities of caregiving by fostering flexible and community-oriented models of artistic engagement. We do so by centering lived experience and challenging dominant ideas of productivity and artistic authorship by visibilising the often-unseen labour that underpins creative work.

Our public programmes are a means to create opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and collective learning as we conceptualise motherhood as a medium of building solidarity as well as systems of knowledge. As our projects proceed and our archive grows, it documents the diverse practices and narratives of motherhood and caregiving across Asia and its diaspora. Simultaneously, through long-term partnerships with artists, cultural institutions, feminist collectives, and researchers, we continue to expand discourse around care, gender, labour, and artistic practice and introduce nuance into the knowledge systems we are seeking to compile and create.

A.M.M.A.A. has also expanded the scope of its activities and by working with organisations such as the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Deichtorhallen Hamburg- Internationale Kunst und Fotografie, FRISE Künstlerhaus Hamburg e.V. and Colours for Peace - Das Kunstfestival among others.

Highlights

Looking with Other (M)others - Workshop Series Invited by KNMA

In 2025, A.M.M.A.A was invited by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi to conduct workshops for exploring the intersection of motherhood and artistic labour. It featured a set of four workshops led by Dr. Ruchika Wason Singh and utilises conversations and creative exercises to understand the expression of maternal experience and seek community building through shared reflection on the intertwining between motherhood and artistic practice.

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Project Sākhī / ਸਾਖੀ

Seeking a Common Ground : Looking at the Other (M)other

Seeking a Common Ground : Looking at the Other (M)other is an ongoing  interview series conducted by A.M.M.A.A  that documents the lived experiences of artists in interview artists in various caregiving capacities. It is oriented towards understanding the social, economic and cultural determinants of motherhood, its crossings with art practice and the resultant effects in questions of care and creativity.

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‘Sākhī’, meaning story in Gurumukhi, is A.M.M.A.A’s latest book project involving artists from Asian countries and of Asian diaspora living elsewhere. It asks artists to tell their stories, weaved from personal narratives from the home and the studio, through use of writings, drawings or any other medium in a plain notebook provided by AM.M.A.A. that includes guiding questions functioning as grounding points whilst allowing for individual expression and responses.

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Mother Artists have been Mapped above, based on their current locations.

 

The A.M.M.A.A. Index is an ever growing list of mother artists of Asian Origin, based within and outside of Asia.

Also are a part of The A.M.M.A.A. Index , the  'Friends of A.M.M.A.A.';  mother artists who are not of Asian origin, but have spent considerable time of their lives in the Asian region , which has had a considerable impact on their lives and art making.   

 

  • Afghanistan

       

  • Armenia

 

  • Azerbaijan

 

  • Bahrain

 

  • Bangladesh

 

  • Bhutan

 

  • Brunei

 

  • Cambodia

 

  • China

           Ma Yanling

  • Cyprus

 

  • Georgia

 

  • India

         Kavita Nayar (born  1957 )

         Lalhming Mawii Amoii ( born 1979)

         Nimmy Melvin ( born 1984)

         Nupur Kundu (born  1975)

        Priya Ravish Mehra (1961-2018)

         Ritu Kamath (born  1970)

         Ruchika Wason Singh (born  1974 )

         Rupa Chordia- Samdaria (born 1978)  ( lives between India and the U.S. ). 

  • Indonesia

 

  • Iran

 

  • Iraq

 

  • Israel

 

  • Japan

           Airi Suzuki (born 1982 )

          Chinen Arisa (born 1987 )

          Miharu Hatori (born 1947 )

          Sai Yuhki (born 1978 ) 

  • Jordan

 

  • Kazakhstan

 

  • Kuwait

 

  • Kyrgyzstan

 

  • Laos

           Ole Scovill (born 1977 )

  • Lebanon

 

  • Malaysia

          Tan Ru Yi  (born  1973 ) (Lives between Malaysia and Japan)

  • Maldives

 

  • Mongolia

 

  • Myanmar (Burma)

 

  • Nepal

 

  • North Korea

 

  • Oman

 

  • Pakistan

           Fatima Zahra Hassan (d.o.b. unavailable) (lives between Pakistan and U.K.)

          Tazeen Qayyum  (born 1973 ) (lives between Pakistan and Canada)

         

  • Palestine

 

  • Philippines

           Kitti Taniguchi (born 1952 )

  • Qatar

 

  • Saudi Arabia

 

  • Singapore

 

  • South Korea

          Jeon Gi -Ok  ( born 1970 ) (lives between South Korea and Thailand)

  • Sri Lanka

 

  • Syria

 

  • Taiwan

             Ching Ching Cheng (born 1982) (lives between Taiwan and U.S.A.)

 

  • Tajikistan

 

  • Thailand

          

  • Timor-Leste

 

  • Turkey

           Leyla Varlik Senturk (born  1966 )

  • Turkmenistan

 

  • United Arab Emirates (UAE)

 

  • Uzbekistan

 

  • Vietnam 

         Nguyen Mai Huong (born 1965) 

  • Yemen

 

Friends of A.M.M.A.A. 

        Neermala Luckinarayan (Mauritius)   (born 1950 )

        Omeshwaree (Deepa)  Bauhadoor (Mauritius) (born  1976) 

        Patty Hudak  (born  1962 ) ( lives between U.S.A. and Japan)