Slapping Noises (2017) solo exhibition - sculpture, cardboard cutout, workshop, plants
commissioned by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle
Photo Credit: Colin Davison

'the sounds here are bouncing around us and Susan and Anne and that object' (2017)
solo exhibition - print & textile, painting, found object, performance, workshop, audio
commissioned by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art for BALTIC 39, NEWCASTLE
Photo Credit: Fiona Larkin

A solo exhibition of performance, workshop, sculpture and ikebana-style flower arrangements which questioned the ways in which language can be heard, visualised and choreographed - part of Singh’s practice-led PhD in Performance Writing.

Solo exhibition/performed-exhibition. A programme of collaborative workshops and performance exploring 'voice' in the process of speaking, making and moving. Articulated through an eclectic mix of text, audio and objects. Collaborations with Harriet Plewis, Hannah Buckley and Helen Collard.

A participatory choreographed parade that traversed Newcastle City Centre, UK - through open public spaces, into buildings, up and down stairwells and across roads. The project explored the inherent performativity of public and private space through the expressive power of the parade as a vechicle for communication and solidarity.

we stand out the most when we stand out together (2013) performance
collaboration with xsite architecture
commissioned by Wunderbar Festival, UK
Photo Credit: 4130 Photography

In Praise of Shadows (2013) performance with Rhodri Davies, Paul Dunmall, Chris Greive, Impossibility Knox, Mark Sanders and Sue Tompkins.
collaboration with xsite architecture / commissioned by Wunderbar Festival, UK
Photo Credit: 4130 Photography

chiffon sponge (2017) performance
part of crossing the line, curated by Gayle Meikle
commissioned by LUX Scotland, Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow
Photo Credit: Nicola Singh

animal energies (2017) performance with Rachel Aggs, Rachel Harwood, Serena Korda, Susie Green, Heather-Bonnie Reid, Flora Whiteley, Hannah Kirkham
commissioned by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art for FAMILY DAY, Newcastle
Photo Credit: Sarah Boutell

Sweet Spot (2017) solo exhibition - textile, drawings, performative props, audio
presented at Jerwood Visual Arts, London
commissioned by 3-Phase Prize - Jerwood Foundation, Eastside Projects & WORKPLACE
Photo Credit: Anna Arca.

Sweet Spot (2017) performance collaboration with Harriet Plewis & Jenny Moore
presented at Jerwood Visual Arts, London
commissioned by 3-Phase Prize - Jerwood Foundation, Eastside Projects & WORKPLACE
Photo Credit: Hydar Dewachi

A capella vocal performance in which the performers improvise, react and respond to the space, each other and a loose set of lyrics. The performance spoke back to the initial, collective moments of exhibition making.

Large-scale installation derived from a series of collaborative workshops that explored the organisation of language around the body within an intersectional feminist framework. Workshop participants included artists Deborah Bower, Tess Denman-Cleaver, Naomi Garriock and Kate Sweeney.

City Stir (2017) solo exhibition - textiles, photography, audio, performance & site-specific performance with Susie Green & Heather Bonnie Reid
commissioned by Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury.
Photo: Janina Sabaliauskaite (site-specific performance-to-camera)

Large-scale installation made in response to Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven’s poem ‘Appalling Heart’ (1920). The traces of an original site-specific performance sited in the Northumberland Moors at sunrise were presented in the context of the gallery. Film photography by Janina Sabaliauskaite. Sound recording Tim Shaw.

Multifaceted participatory performance designed for an intergenerational audience. The theme explored our affinity to certain animal energies and to our animal selves. Developed with a cast of collaborators in workshop settings.

I See This Feel In The Shape Of A Smile (2018) group exhibition - pigment, Hanji paper
curated by Rebecca Halliwell Sutton
commissioned by Caustic Coastal, Salford as part of Signs | Beacons
Photo Credit: Caustic Coastal

An exploration in performative drawing with pigment on Korean Hanji paper. Drawings and text that were produced in parallel with one another - documenting sensations in relation to the body and to emotions, preserving intimate observations about the politics of a felt or feeling experience.

Large-scale drawings by the artist and a series produced in participatory workshops, made via somatic practices of touch and movement - a feminist gesture to cultivating a haptic and sensual relationship with one’s body through expanded drawing practice.

Soft Body (2018) solo performance - painting, ceramics, performance
commissioned by Hongti Art Centre, Busan, South Korea - British Council UK/Korea
Photo Credit: Nicola Singh

within reach (2018) group exhibition - paintings, pigment on silicon fabrics, text
presented at Workplace Gallery, Gateshead
commissioned by 3-Phase Prize - Jerwood Foundation, Eastside Projects & WORKPLACE
Photo Credit: John MacKenzie. Text Extract.

Experiments in performance and expanded painting - the works display the traces of an intimate, choreographic relationship between body and materials. A text piece, written in parallel to the artist’s making, acts as a journal of touch and sensation.

Slippery Skin (2018) performance
commissioned by Post Paradise, Birmingham
Photo Credit: post paradise

Improvised sung/spoken performance using a text that grossly documents an intimate physical exchange. A rhythmic backing was provided by the audience.

The dinning room of H and G's house (2018) solo exhibition - film & photography
with Kate Sweeney, Phyllis Christopher and Janina Sabaliauskaite
commissioned by ArtHouses, Newcastle
Photo Credit: Phyllis Christopher

Film and photography exploring intimacy and erotics in queer kinship, meditated through a set of materials. Commissioned by ArtHouses who specialise in presenting contemporary art projects in domestic settings.

Will Hold A (2018) performance collaboration with Harriet Plewis
commission by Mutters, New Victoria Gardens, Glasgow curated by Mattie Roberts
Photo Credit: Amy Holt

A series of poses referencing scenes of 'radical intimacy' from literature and lived experience. Performed to a recording of the artists having a 'private conversation', soundtracked by a trap dance sample.

'Monkeys Made on Tinder Dates' (2018) group exhibition
commissioned by IMT Gallery, London - part of Chop Leisure curated by Mark Jackson
Photo Credit: IMT Gallery

Part of an ongoing project in which Singh follows the pedagogic prompt 'Make A Monkey Out of Clay' from Paul Klee's 'Teaching Notes', Cooper Union Gallery. For IMT she followed the prompt with dates she organised via the online dating app Tinder.

Pushing Attention (2018) solo exhibition - print, textile weaving, performance
presented at Eastside Projects, Birmingham
commissioned by 3-Phase Prize - Jerwood Foundation, Eastside Projects & WORKPLACE
Photo Credits: Zunaira.Muzaffar & Stuart Whipps

Multidisciplinary solo exhibition which explored different representations of form, touch and movement through a discursive and changing relationship between photography, a experimental free-standing weaving and live performance.

A response to the provocation from curatorial collective TOTALLER to develop 'an ARTWORK AS WEAPON'. Singh chose the concept of honesty as a weapon, and presented this in the form of an improvised spoken word performance plus costume.

Honesty As A Weapon (2018) performance
commissioned by TOTALLER for NewBridge Projects, Gateshead
Photo Credit: Lesley Guy. Image right - TOTALLER ARMOURY.

The Mountain & Other Tales of She Transformed (2019) set design
commissions by Yorkshire Dance, The Lowry & Leeds International Festival
Photo: Sara Teresa

Set design for Hannah Buckley's movement work 'The Mountain and Other Tales of She Transformed'. In workshops, participants are guided through somatic movement and experimental drawing exercises onto large-scale free standing black boards with chalk.

Fragments of Whatsapp voice notes composed into song. Reassuring refrains, joyful and uncomfortable self-reflections and moments of deep dependence between the two friends were selected from their private correspondence.

I AM YOUR PROTEIN SHAKE (2019) performance collaboration with Harriet Plewis
commissioned by PUG, Caedmon Hall, Gateshead
Photo Credit: Chris Bishop

Sticky Weeds (2019) performance and film
commissioned as part of D6 Culture In Transit Research Residency, Newcastle
Photo Credit: Sarah Boutell

Improvised spoken word performance that expressed Singh's intersectional experiences of race and migration - from the standpoint of a British Panjabi, mixed heritage, women of colour. Improvisation is used as a tool to experiment with honesty, candour and risk, as a remedy against the silencing affect of the racial imaginary.

Love Lane (2019) performance, film & installation
commissioned by ArtHouse part of Solo Residency, Wakefield
Photo Credit: Jules Lister

An improvised spoken word performance and installation navigating Singh's one month residency in Wakefield - focusing on the town's status as City of Sanctuary and the presence of a Home Office Dispersal Unit, located opposite Wakefield HM Prison.

In Training For The Horror (2019) performance & film
produced as part of Hospitalfield Summer Residency, Arbroath
Photo: Cicely Farrer (left) Matthew Parkin (right - camcorder film still)

A spoken, sung and shouted improvised performance, sited in one of the historic painting galleries at Hospitalfields. The performance aimed to test a way of expressing racial trauma and connecting this to practices of active and embodied listening.

NGL (2019) performance & film
commissioned as part of 'Everything Must Go' group show, Workplace, Gateshead
Photo Credit: Sarah Boutell (film still)

Improvised vocal performance experimenting with mantra and/or the idea of spell casting and/or making a promise in front of others. Repetition is used to test and stretch semantic meaning.

Two part performance that uses improvisation as a means to try and express - what can feel like - pretty desperate sentiments. Language is pit against speech, song and movement - and around real and imagined objects.

don't look so sad (2019) performance
presented at PreAmble curated by Jude Brownrigg and PRINT PRESENT PERFORM, Tetley
commissioned by David Dale Gallery, Glasgow
Photo Credit: Isobel Lutz Smith (right) Jules Lister (left)

POWERGRAB (6:00) (2020) film collaboration with Helen Collard
commissioned by Projections North East 'Artists in Cinema, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle
Photo Credit: Emma Dalesman (DOP)

Collaboration with Helen Collard. A performance to film that captures a series of physical, emotional and psychological training exchanges. Commissioned for 'artists in cinema' series. Camera – Emma Dalesman; Sound – Stuart Wright & Alessandro Pascale.

Gloomy Fantasy (2021) performance to camera
commissioned as part of D6: Contested Desires Residency Project, Newcastle
Photo Credit: Lauren de Sá Naylor

Various - paper based works (2021)
commissioned by Artlicks Magazine, published in Ed. 26
exhibited in 'Dark Matter' group exhibition, Workplace, Newcastle
Image Credit: John McKenzie

'Chocolatey Faces' (2021) film and performance
commissioned as part of Leach 100/Porthmeor Studios Residency, St Ives
Image Credit: SHARP

An improvised performance of breath-work, vocals and movement, incorporating installation and prop. The performance abstractly revealed Singh's experiences of gendered racialisation with the purported beauty of St Ives whilst on artist residency.

Moon Mouse Monkey Bear (2023) performance with Ted Rodgers and Hardeep Pandhal
commissioned by Quench Gallery, Margate
Image Credit: Stephen Daly

Singh improvises with Mohanam raga from Carnatic music, which is associated with the emotions courage and compassion. She interrupts the flow with sun/spoken word improvisations. And a bear dances in her imagination.

eon om circle song (2022) performance
commissioned by La Bonne Gallery, Barcelona (SPAIN), part of D6 Contested Desires
Image Credit: Meritxell Blanco

Singh explores the sacred Vedic mantra ‘Om’ as cultural artefact through vocal improvisation. She chants in different registers of her voice, in silence and on the inhale. The performance intends to provoke discourse around the ways in which the ‘Om’ mantra has been exploited via colonialisation and its continued after-effects.

A Whole and a Half Semi-Step from the Base of the Mountain (2022) performance
commissioned by Xarkis Festival (Cyprus), part of D6 Contested Desires
Image Credit: Xarkis Festival

An exploration of the voices and vocal practices of the Agros community in live, improvised performance. Vocality and listening is used as a tool to explore notions of heritage and identity/ies.

Photographic documentation of 'eon om circle song’ worked into with oil pastel, pen and pencil to playfully represent chakra and nadi systems in the body. Mark making also indicates use of voice in the performance and atmospheres/images that emerged. The works can be read as both document and score.

Various - paper based works (2022)
commissioned by D6 Contested Desires, Newcastle
Image Credit: Nicola Singh

Loss of Heat performance (2023) with Noski Deville
commissioned by Cinenova Feminist Film & Brighton CCA
Image Credit: Phoebe Wingrove

Sweet White Monkeys (2023) performance with Raz Ullah
commissioned by HOME Manchester and Paradise Works, Manchester
Image Credit: Ada Orlow

An improvised vocal and instrumental performance made in response to Deville's 1994 film 'Loss of Heat'. Commissioned as part of 'The Work We Share' Cinenova Feminist Film - a project of digitising precarious film and commissioning artwork in response.

Live, fully improvised synthesis of classical Indian music, spoken word, soundscape and granular sampling. Singh on vocals and Ullah on electronics. Inc. found moving image.

EACH+EVERY ONE OF US PEOPLES/PLANTS/ANIMALS insects bugs slugs mugs (2023) performance
commissioned by Tetley Gallery, Leeds & HH Art Spaces - Antibodies Festival, Goa
Image Credit: Shivani Gupta.

A 24-hour durational performance of japa - vocal recitation of a mantra within an installation of fresh flowers, water vessels and live fish. The performance explored the acoustics of vocal, meditative practice and provoked discourse around the display or performance of spiritual practices.

A series of six short improvised audio works – somewhere between poem and song - commissioned for Feed, a touring artwork/feeding chair. Singh takes an expanded view of motherhood and the act of feeding. She explores images, scenes and feels connected to embodied listening and the act of nourishment.

My Endless Love (2022 - 2024) audio works
commissioned by Feed Project and University of Central Lancaster
displayed at various locations - Whitworth Gallery, Manchester & Leeds Art Gallery
Image Credit: Fiona Finchett

Please, Please, Please (2023) performance
commissioned by Artangel, London as part of the Sarah Sze contextual programme Image Credit: Christa Holka

Improvised performance that borrows the ‘pleases’ from James Brown and the Flames’ song of the same name. Taking the language and the phrasing, Singh repeats the sections over and over. The phrase becomes mantra, a desperate plea or flirtation.

Performance response to 'Continnum Attic‘ by Darren Adcock (2023) performance
commissioned by ETROME, Manchester
Image Credit: Joe Oli Smith

Improvised vocal performance in response to Darren Adcock's kinetic sculptures and voltage controlled feedback system, with Pascal Nichols and Sam Weaver.

Architectural intervention and acoustic experiment. A hole was cut between two floors in a disused building, and an programme of experimental music took place between the aperture - performers on the first floor and audience on the ground floor.

Text and screen-based performance in which images and words meet to apply direct and difficult pressure onto each other. The performance used video projection, song and text to broadly explore tense or hidden desires.

Singh repeatedly sings the phrase 'take me' in Gujarati, improvising through experimental vocals and with the influence of her training Dhrupad from Pandit Uday Bhawalkar. The performance evokes–and complicates–the spiritual origins of Indian classical music.

Manē la'ī jāva (take me) (2024) performance
commissioned by SPACE studio, Gujarat
Image Credit: Madhav Vyas

Part poem, conversation, anecdotes and song, the text traces a period of interrupted experimental research; the gory aftermath of an artist residency programme. Written out of a ritualised practice that incorporates movement, vocal and hatha yoga practices, this text forms an embodied and psychic reckoning of a body buckled by St.Ives waves and whiteness.

Punjabi Princess, Smoking Black Cloud (2024)
Commissioned and published by COPY.
Image credit: COPY.