Hetain Patel is a London-based artist and filmmaker, whose work challenges reductive categorisations of identity and art. Often rooted in personal experience, and that of his immigrant family, Patel’s work invites us to see identity as multi-dimensional and complex, linked as much to what we choose to do, as to that which is assigned by birth, heritage, social norms, and conventions.
His films, sculptures, live performances, paintings and photographs have been shown worldwide in galleries, theatres and on iconic public screens at sites including Piccadilly Circus, London, and Times Square, New York. His works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing, and in London at Tate Modern and Sadler’s Wells.
Patel's work uses choreography, text and popular culture to explore identity and freedom, appearing in multiple formats and media to reach the widest possible audience. His online video and performance work, which includes his 2013 TED talk of titled, ‘Who Am I? Think Again’, has been watched over 50 million times.
Patel is represented by Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, and is a supported artist at Copperfield, London, a Patron of QUAD, Derby, and a trustee of the Liverpool Biennial. He is the winner of the Film London Jarman Award, 2019, and Kino Der Kunst Festival’s Best International Film 2020, and was selected for British Art Show 9, 2021/22. In 2021 Patel received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Artist Award, a Henry Moore Foundation Award, declined a British Empire Medal and was a judge on the Sky Arts television series, Landmark.
Patel's works are in public and private collections in the UK and internationally, including Tate, British Council, Arts Council England, Government Art Collection, Manchester Art Gallery, M+ Museum Hong Kong, KNMA New Delhi, and Fondazione In Between Art Film, Rome.