Ashokkumar D Mistry (b. 1972, Leicester) is a British interdisciplinary artist, writer, curator and educator based in Leicester whose work spans installation, performance, moving image, public art, drawing and critical writing. Educated at De Montfort University, where he completed a BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 1996, and Wolverhampton University, where he completed a PGCE in Further, Adult and Higher Education in 1999, Mistry has developed a distinctive approach to art-making grounded in experimentation, participation and the emotional and social dimensions of contemporary life.

Beginning with poetry and reflective writing, Mistry’s artworks evolve through an open-ended process in which medium is determined by conceptual and emotional necessity rather than fixed disciplinary boundaries. Since the early 2000s, he has combined physical and digital media, sculptural installation, participatory work and performance to explore how individuals construct meaning, identity and “truth” within increasingly mediated social environments. Works such as Thoughts On Entry (2001), Brave New World (2003), Talking Walls/TimeLight (2005), Råsa (2009), Populous (2011), Surface Tension (2015) and Methods for misunderstanding the nature of things (2015–2016) demonstrate his sustained interest in ritual, perception, collective behaviour and audience interaction. Drawing, for Mistry, functions not simply as mark-making but as a questioning process through which ideas are tested and transformed.

Over more than two decades, Mistry has exhibited widely across the UK and internationally. Significant projects include Half Life at AGlow Space, Tainan, Taiwan (2018), Collective Influence at the Shape Arts Open (2018), Awkward Bastards at Home, commissioned by DASH Arts (2020), Beyond Relentless Acceleration at Nottingham Contemporary (2022), and the solo exhibition Don’t Stare at Ikon Gallery in 2023. In 2024, he collaborated on Las Gemelas – Arrival (a lexicon of unmaking) at John Hansard Gallery and participated in projects connected to the Photoworks Summit.

Alongside his artistic process, Mistry has maintained an active role as a writer, curator and mentor. Between 2020 and 2022, he was a Fellow of the International Association of Art Critics, an Associate Artist with Disability Arts Online, and a Vital Spark Development Artist with The Spark Arts for Children. Since 2018, he has written extensively on disability arts, participation and cultural work for organisations including Disability Arts Online, Shape Arts and Social Art Library. In 2021, he became a founding member of the Onyx Collective, contributing to broader discussions on inclusion, institutional change, and representation in contemporary art. He also teaches at degree level.

Mistry’s work continues to evolve through collaborative research, performance, writing and socially engaged projects. His work is characterised by an experimental methodology in which media are pushed beyond their conventional uses to uncover new emotional and social realities, often using play, metaphor, repetition, and participation as critical tools for reflecting on contemporary human experience.

• Website:https://ashokdmistry.com