Benitha Perciyal K (b. 1978) completed her MFA from the Government College of Arts & Crafts, Chennai, 2002 in painting and printmaking. She began to exhibit her work in 1997 and in the past twenty years has developed a distinctive approach to sculpture. Primarily figurative, Perciyal’s art locates its foundations in her strong Christian faith, in both its iconography and its materials. Her preferred medium is the herbs and oils that are made into incense: myrrh, cinnamon, cloves, Frankincense, lemongrass, bark powder, and cedar. She casts found and modeled forms solely in these organic compounds, requiring months or years of curing, slowing down the process of making and refusing any synthetic materials. Benitha Perciyal’s works have been included in numerous group exhibitions in the past two decades at galleries such as Espace and Latitude 28 in New Delhi, OED in Kochi, and The Noble Sage in London. Most notably, she was featured in the second Kochi-Muziris Biennial entitled “Whorled Expectations” and curated by Jitish Kallat in 2014. She has received many awards such as Lalit Kala Akademi State Award (2000), The Camlin 6th Southern Region Art Award (2004), Lalit Kala Akademi Research Grant (2003-2004), Camlin Euro Art Tour to visit the galleries of London and Paris (2005) Amol Vadehra Art award (2016). She now lives and works in Chennai.