Sindhu Thirumalaisamy is an artist and filmmaker whose work engages everyday spaces and civic infrastructures—such as hospitals, kitchens, temples, mosques, lakes, and roadsides—as sites of collective resistance and care.

Thirumalaisamy’s 2019 film, The Lake and The Lake, premiered at the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM). It won the jury award for Best Documentary at the 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival and was nominated for awards at BlackStar Film Festival and Open City Documentary Festival. Her work has been exhibited at venues including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; San Diego Museum of Art; EFA Project Space, New York; Locust Projects, Miami; Lawndale Art Center, Houston; Workers Arts & Heritage Centre, Hamilton; Union Docs, Brooklyn; Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center, Buffalo; Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco; and Khoj International Artists’ Association, New Delhi.

Thirumalaisamy trained as a filmmaker at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. She received an MFA in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. She is an alumna of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her practice has been supported by fellowships including the NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Film/Video, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Core Residency Program, and the MacDowell Fellowship.

Thirumalaisamy teaches courses on film, video, sound, installation, and interdisciplinary topics that engage environmental studies and feminist media practices.