About
Hetain Patel is a British artist and filmmaker building fictional worlds across film, painting and performance. Drawing on British Asian experience, ancestry and popular culture to imagine alternative futures, his recent work is developing a distinctive form of British Asian Futurism rooted in recognisable people, places and everyday life.
Over a 20-year career, his work has been presented internationally at Tate Modern, the Venice Biennale, Sadler’s Wells and BFI London, and on public screens in Times Square and Piccadilly Circus. His films and performances have reached audiences of more than 50 million online.
Patel is currently developing new work across painting, moving image and performance alongside an ambitious feature film rooted in the landscapes and communities of northern England.
Full Biography
Hetain Patel is an artist and filmmaker based in London whose work spans film, live performance, painting and sculpture. Over the past two decades, his practice has explored identity and freedom: how we become who we are through family, language, cultural inheritance, the body and popular culture, and how those identities might be transformed or reimagined.
Moving between contemporary art, cinema and performance, Patel brings seemingly disparate influences into the same world — from martial arts, Hollywood cinema and cars to migration, family histories and the everyday experience of British Asian life. Humour, choreography and acts of transformation recur throughout his work, challenging assumptions about authenticity, belonging and who gets to occupy particular roles or spaces.
Increasingly, these different strands of Patel’s practice are converging through world-building. Drawing on British Asian experience, ancestry, popular culture and
speculative imagination, his recent work is developing a distinctive form of British Asian Futurism: creating fictional worlds rooted in recognisable people, places and lived experience, while opening them towards alternative possibilities and imagined futures. Working across painting, moving image, performance and emerging technologies, Patel uses imagination not as an escape from reality, but as a way of seeing and reshaping it. This evolving body of work is also informing his development of a feature film rooted in the landscapes and communities of northern England.
Patel’s work has been presented internationally at institutions and events including Tate Modern, the Venice Biennale, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, Sadler’s Wells and BFI London, as well as on public screens in Piccadilly Circus, London and Times Square, New York. His films and performances have reached audiences of more than 50 million online, including his TED talk, Who Am I? Think Again?
He received the Film London Jarman Award in 2019 and the Best International Film Award at Kino der Kunst in 2020, and was included in British Art Show 9. In 2021 he received both a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Artist Award and a Henry Moore Foundation Award. His major Artangel commission, Come As You Really Are, celebrates the extraordinary creativity of people’s hobbies and continues to tour across the UK.
Patel’s work is held in public and private collections internationally, including Tate, the British Council Collection, Government Art Collection, Arts Council Collection, M+ in Hong Kong, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi and Fondazione In Between Art Film in Rome. He is represented by Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
-
2026
We Are Alloys, The Exchange, Blackburn, as part of National Festival of Making
-
2025
Come As You Really Are, National Tour UK
-
2024
Come As You Really Are, Croydon, UK (Artangel Commission)
-
2023
Don't Look at the Finger, Tate St Ives, UK
— -
2023
Baa’s House, Humber Street Gallery, Hull, UK
— -
2023
Cars & Carpets, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, India
— -
2022
Landing, Mayflower400 commission, Savoy Cinema, Bassetlaw, UK
— -
2022
Trinity, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK; Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, India
— -
2021
Baa’s House 11, CIRCA, Piccadilly Lights screen London, Times Square New York, K-Pop Square Seoul, Unika Vision Tokyo
— -
2021
Trinity, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
— -
2021
Baa’s Gold, Copperfield, London, UK
— -
2020
Heavy Metal & Plastic Dreams, Birmingham Library, UK
— -
2018
Don’t Look at the Finger, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai; Tanzhaus Dusseldorf; John Hansard Gallery, UK; New Art Gallery Walsall, UK
— -
2017
Don’t Look at the Finger, Manchester Art Gallery; QUAD, Derby, UK
— -
2015
The Jump, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh, USA
— -
2015
The Other Suit, The Agency Gallery, London, UK
— -
2015
The Other Suit, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, India
— -
2014
Fiesta Transformer, C-Mine, Genk, Belgium
— -
2014
At Home, Pump House Gallery, London, UK
— -
2013
At Home, mac, Birmingham, UK
— -
2012
At Home, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, India
— -
2012
At Home, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
— -
2010
Sacred Bodies, National Office, Arts Council England, London, UK
— -
2007
Coded Gestures, Usher Gallery, The Collection, Lincoln, UK
— -
2007
Sine Language, City Gallery, Leicester, UK; Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, UK; London Printworks Trust, Brixton, UK; Gallery Oldham (collaborative performance and video installation with beatboxer Jason Singh)
— -
2004
Lagan, Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, UK; 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe,UK
—
Selected Group Exhibitions
-
2026 - 2029
Small Wonders, Hayward Gallery touring (UK)
-
2026
Mishpocha, Juadisches Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
-
2025
Life Less Ordinary, Two Temple Place, London, UK
-
2023
Finding Family, Foundling Museum, London, UK
— -
2023
Milk, Wellcome Collection, London, UK
— -
2022
Moving Bodies, Moving Images, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
— -
2021/22
British Art Show 9, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Aberdeen, Plymouth, UK
— -
2021
The Fire Within, Various locations, Wigan, UK
— -
2020
Peer to Peer, Online, Hong Kong - UK exchange
— -
2020
Visions in the Nunnery (Lead Artist), Nunnery Gallery, London, UK
— -
2019
American Export, Grand Union Birmingham and Regent St Cinema, London, UK
— -
2019
It Ain’t Half Racist Mum! (screening alongside Stuart Hall film), ICA, London, UK
— -
2019
Kaleidoscope, Somerset House, London, UK
— -
2019
Deeper Within Its Silence, Devi Art Foundation, Delhi, India
— -
2019
Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London, UK
— -
2019
Shall We Dance, MUCEM, Marseille, France
— -
2018
Speech Acts, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
— -
2018
Common Third, Copperfield, London, UK
— -
2018
Everything We Do Is Music, Drawing Room, London, UK
— -
2016
Now! Now!, Chelsea College of Arts, London UK. Curated by Sonia Boyce
— -
2015/16
Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane, Australia
— -
2015
Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf, 56th Venice Biennale, Italy
— -
2015
SPHERES 7, Galleria Continua, Le Moulin, France
— -
2013
SPHERES 6, Galleria Continua, Le Moulin, France
— -
2012
Indian Highway, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
— -
2010
Frictive Familiarities, Art Kino, Stockholm, Sweden
— -
2010
Progress Report, InIVA, Rivington Place, London, UK
— -
2010
No Heroes, Redcat Theatre, Walt Disney, Concert Hall, Los Angeles, USA
— -
2010
Punctum 1, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
— -
2009
Wonder What The Others Are Up To?, Gallery OED, Cochin, India
— -
2009
Pattern Recognition, City Gallery, Leicester, UK
— -
2008
Next We Change Earth, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
— -
2008
Pavilion/Photofusion, Photofusion, London, UK
— -
2006
All Our Tomorrows, Kunstraum der Universitaet Lueneburg, Germany
— -
2006
Excess, Curated by Deborah Dean, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK
— -
2005
Young British Art, The Castle, Cieszyn, Poland
— -
2004
Lagan (2 person show with Chila Kumari Burman), The Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
—
Live Performances and Film Festivals
-
2026
Mathroo Basha, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India
-
2025
Mathro Basha, National Tour UK, Leeds, Salford, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol
— -
2024
Mathroo Basha, Barbican, London, UK (Part of Dance Umbrella)
-
2023
Reflex, Antibodies Festival, HH Art Space, Tetely, British Council, Goa, India (Performance)
— -
2022
Reflex, India Art Fair & British Council, Delhi, India (performance)
— -
2022
BFI Flare Film Festival, London, UK (Screening Trinity)
— -
2021
Baa’s Gold 10, National Gallery, London, UK (performance commission)
-
2021
Don’t Look, Asia Society Triennial, New York City, USA (perforamance)
— -
2019
YouTube Made Me, Laban and UK/International tour (performance)
— -
2018
Lets Talk About ‘Dis, Sadler’s Wells, London, Royal Opera House, London, UK (performance)
— -
2016
American Man, Sadler’s Wells, London (performance)
— -
2015
American Boy, CODA Festival, Oslo, Norway (performance)
— -
2015
iMovie 2.0, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India (performance)
— -
2014
iMovie 2.0, Extinction Marathon, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (performance)
— -
2014
Let’s Talk About Dis, for Candoco Dance Company, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK and national tour (performance)
— -
2014
American Boy, Bush Theatre, London, UK (performance)
— -
2014
American Boy, Sadler’s Wells, London and UK national tour (performance)
— -
2014
Let’s Talk About Dis, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and UK national tour (performance)
— -
2013
TED Talk, TED Global, Edinburgh, UK
-
2013
Be Like Water, National Tour, UK (performance)
— -
2013
TEN, Théâtre de Gennevilliers, France (French version) (performance)
— -
2013
TEN, CCNC, Caen, France (French version) (performance)
— -
2012
Me and Me Dad and Me Wife, Tate Modern, Tanks, London, UK (new performance commission)
— -
2012
Be Like Water, Royal Opera House, London, UK (new performance commission)
— -
2012
Elephant, Southbank Centre, London, UK (new performance commission)
— -
2012
TEN, British Dance Edition, London, UK (performance)
— -
2011
TEN, Minto:Live (in collaboration with Charlie Freuen and Nikki Tala-Oloa), Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia (performance)
— -
2011
TEN, Silesian Dance Theatre, Poland
— -
2011
TEN, British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase 2011, Edinburgh, UK
— -
2008
Unpicked & Dismantled, Part of Textile '07 Biennale, Kaunas, Lithuania (performance)
— -
2007
Raga Erhu (in collaboration with Shane Shambhu and Ling Peng), LOUD TATE, Tate Britain, London UK
— -
2006
Copy/Paste (in collaboration with Gurpreet Kullar and Jason Singh), Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, UK (performance)
— -
2005
Reflected Identity, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK (performance)
—
Awards and Residencies
-
2021
Paul Hamlyn Foundation Artist Award, London, UK
— -
2021
Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award, UK
— -
2020
Winner, Best International Film, Kino Der Kunst, Munich (Germany)
— -
2019
Winner, Film London Jarman Award (UK)
— -
2009
501 Artspace, Chongqing, China. 2 months as Artist in Residence
— -
2009
Artists Taking The Lead (East Midlands U.K - Shortlisted)
— -
2009
Satyajit Ray Short Film Award (National - Shortlisted)
— -
2008
Winner, Nottingham Creative Business of the Year, UK
— -
2005-7
Lakeside Arts Centre. 2 years as Artist in Residence, UK
— -
2004
Decibel Award. Awarded by Arts Council England, East Midlands to support 2 years research and development.
— -
2004
The Art House/Esmee Fairbairne Bursary for 3 month residency and exhibition at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe.
—
Education and Appointments
-
2021 - date
Trustee, Liverpool Biennial, UK
— -
2020 - date
Patron, Film London Jarman Award, UK
— -
2019 - date
Artist Advisor, Jerwood Arts, UK
— -
2019 - 21
Artist Council, a-n, UK
— -
2019 - date
Patron, QUAD, Derby, UK
— -
2010 - 13
Regional Council Member, Arts Council England, East Midlands, UK
— -
2009 - 13
Trustee, Deda, Derby’s Dance Centre, Derby, UK
— -
2007 - date
Visiting Lecturer (Fine Art), The Nottingham Trent University, UK
— -
2003
BA Hons Fine Art, The Nottingham Trent University, UK
— -
2000
Diploma Foundation Studies in Art and Design, The University of Salford, UK
—
Public Collections
-
Tate
— -
British Council
— -
Government Art Collection
— -
Arts Council Collection
— -
Manchester Art Gallery
— -
Harris Museum, Preston
— -
Salford University
— -
University of Nottingham
— -
M+ Museum, Hong Kong
— -
Kiran Nada Museum of Art, Delhi, India
— -
Fondazione In Between Art Film, Milan, Italy
—