Geeta Premawtee Boolkah was born in 1957 in Port Louis, Mauritius, British Empire (now Republic of Mauritius). She spent her early childhood on the island before migrating with her family to the UK in 1965. Boolkah is an outsider artist, primarily working with oil on canvas and board.
Painter Geeta Premawtee Boolkah was born in 1957 in Port Louis, Mauritius, British Empire (now Republic of Mauritius). She spent her early childhood on the island before migrating with her family to the UK in 1965. This relocation took place during a period of broader postcolonial movement, as families from former British territories settled across the UK.
Boolkah’s self-taught style fuses postwar European expressionism with an idiosyncratic narrative sensibility that leans towards the symbolic and surreal. Her work is characterised by vigorous, impasto brushwork and a palette that shifts between earthy opacity and vivid, emotionally charged hues. Emerging in the late 20th century, Boolkah’s practice reflects both the legacy of gestural abstraction and a renewed interest in figuration and storytelling that surfaced in Britain and Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. Her paintings bear affinities with artists influenced by Art Brut and Neo-Expressionism, but they also resist neat categorisation, often slipping between abstraction and figuration. In View from Minerva House (1986), the composition is dense and dynamic, composed of bold, gestural brushstrokes that convey a sense of hurried observation and emotional immediacy. The frenetic surface and structural fragmentation recall the raw expressiveness of Polish-born Guta Vardy, especially in its resistance to formal resolution. While ostensibly a view, the image teeters on the edge of abstraction, suggesting shifting urban forms and interior impressions. Hold Tight (1993), held at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, presents a more overtly narrative scene. A woman clutching vivid red lilies stands in a windswept, surreal cityscape. The exaggerated scale and symbolic elements evoke inner turbulence, hinting at personal or diasporic dislocation. The theatrical colouration and dreamlike distortion evoke postwar surrealist revival currents seen in artists such as Paula Rego.
Boolkah participated in at least three art initiatives during the 1990s. In 1991, she exhibited alongside James Holdsworth at the Tricycle Gallery in Kilburn. In 1993, she took part in the South Asian Contemporary Visual Arts Festival in the West Midlands, organised by the Nairobi-born artist Juginder Lamba. As part of the festival programme, her works were shown at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, displayed alongside Indian story scrolls from the museum’s permanent collection. She also led two painting demonstrations. In 1995, Boolkah collaborated with Witchford Village College in Ely on a project linked to a part-time diploma course for artists in residence at Anglia Polytechnic University. She contributed fifteen large-scale paintings, which became the foundation for a broad range of creative school activities. The extended duration of the project allowed for thoughtful planning and meaningful engagement. Students gained insight into Boolkah’s artistic process—from sketchbook drawings to completed six-foot canvases—and developed a deeper understanding of material use and visual language.
Geeta Premawtee Boolkah lives in Cambridge. Beyond the information presented here, very little is currently known about her practice. The Ben Uri Research Unit welcomes contributions from researchers or family members who may hold further knowledge. In terms of public collections, her works are held by the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Geeta Boolkah]
Publications related to [Geeta Boolkah] in the Ben Uri Library