Deep Bhandari

Deepa Bhandari is a ceramic artist based in Bangalore, India. She creates sculptural and functional work through wood-firing processes, traveling to different potteries to fire her pieces in atmospheric kilns. Her practice is grounded in slow, handbuilt construction, and embraces the elemental effects of flame, ash, and time on clay surfaces.

She holds a BFA in Painting and an MFA in the History of Art. After a long hiatus from creative practice, Deepa returned to working with her hands through clay. In 2022, she trained at Golden Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry, where she was introduced to wood-fired ceramics. Since then, her studio practice has evolved into a deeply meditative and process-led approach to form and surface.

Her current body of work, the Reliquary series, is inspired by traditional reliquaries as vessels that hold and protect what is sacred. In her interpretation, these forms do not house relics of saints or sacred objects, but instead hold memory, transition, and lived experience—marking emotional and spiritual thresholds. The forms evoke ancient architecture and geological formations, suggesting permanence, ritual, and a structure shaped by erosion and time.