Radhika Sanghvi's Sculptures Are A Conversation Between Form, Light, and Feeling

Sculpture, as an art form, is one that comes closest to the human experience — it’s three dimensional. It’s a medium that plays with form and feeling. Each creation embodies change, fluidity and fall. Radhika Sanghvi’s creations have a fourth dimension — light. . 

Having grown up with a father who is an artist, and art collector, Radhika learnt to create using everything around her. From a distance, her sculptures seem decadent and material-heavy. But the creation of these sculptures is a process that uses illumination as a drawing board. 

“As dusk falls, my sculptures shift in character, offering new patterns, moods, and details with every angle. Illumination breathes life into the form. It’s not just about lighting a space — it’s about creating emotion, quiet wonder, and a moment of pause,” says Sanghvi. She often refers to her process as a composition, and rightly so. There’s a meditative process in Radhika’s work that builds form, feeling and depth; that requires as much attention to detail as it does to fluidity. 

The materials used in her work are humble and found in natural surroundings, often hand-sourced by Radhika. For her, the simplicity in material is what allows them to be moulded into magic. Branches become backbones, reed becomes the connecting string flowing through the sculpture, handmade paper creates a texture respectful of illumination, and light itself breathes life into the artwork. “The natural curves and character of the branches guide the entire composition. Around it, reed is twisted and bent to create flowing movement. Paper is then meticulously layered over the structure. It’s a time-consuming, almost meditative process — repeated layers that build texture, softness, and depth,” says Radhika. 

There’s a resilience in pushing the potential of basic material. For materials that have been in use for centuries, wood, reed, and paper become materials that are manoeuvred to not just come alive, but defy rules of design. Sculptural illumination, while a heavy word, is certainly meant to feel make pieces feel weightless — like they’re floating, growing, objects of light.

The future of sculptural illumination lies in the experimentation of light and material. What seems like an unlikely pair, fits perfectly in each nook and cranny of a collaborative creation. We asked Radhika what the future of sculptural illumination looks like to her, and her answer profoundly answers why art is created:

“Whether it’s a small corner or a large immersive environment, my goal is always the same: to make people pause, look up, and feel something — even if they don’t know exactly what that something is.” 

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