Love[f]Art #15 | Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran

Hosted by Amanda Love, the LoveArt podcast brings listeners into direct conversation with contemporary artists, extending the work of the independent art advisory, LoveArt, based in Sydney, New York and Athens.The series draws from Love[f]Art, LoveArt’s ongoing program of intimate, in-conversation recordings with artists, originally conceived in 2020. Filmed in the most unlikely of settings—the guest powder room at the Love residence—the project strips things back to a one-to-one exchange, focusing on ideas, process and the conditions that shape contemporary practice.This episode features Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, a Sri Lankan-born Sydney based artist. Nithiyendran explores global histories and figurative languages, particularly in relation to idolatry, monumentality, gender, race, and religiosity. The installation discussed in this episode includes a series of three large, hand-built ceramic wall masks and a series of miniature bronze faces mounted to the walls. Masks have been recurring motifs within my practice. I’m interested in their layered, multi-regional histories as well as their abilities to function as mechanisms of power, concealment, and polymorphism—in ritual, performance, or protest.Recorded in March 2025, at the time of the work’s installation, the conversation offers a direct insight into the thinking behind the piece, and the broader concerns that underpin her practice.Nithiyendran is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf.Additional information, including the video version of this podcast, is available here.