DHARSHI DE SILVA
Visual Artist · Founder, Hoo Gallery · Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
BIOGRAPHY
Dharshi de Silva is a visual artist working in botanical contact painting, a process developed from eco-printing and extended through earth pigment, natural dye, and soft pastel. Her work is drawn from a garden she has cultivated for ten years on the Mornington Peninsula, and is shown as vanitas painting rather than botanical illustration — an inquiry into contact, trace, and impermanence. Before turning to painting, de Silva worked as a primary school teacher and as an award-winning fashion designer in New Zealand. She founded Hoo Gallery in 2019 and now shows work across two locations: Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula, and Richmond, Melbourne.
Solo Exhibitions
2026 Studies, Hoo Gallery, Mount Eliza (forthcoming)
2026 The May Offering, Hoo Gallery, Richmond (online)
2025 Return to Eden, Mystik River Gallery, Southbank
2025 The Apartment Show: Take 2, Hoo Gallery, Richmond
2025 The Apartment Show, Hoo Gallery, Richmond
2025 Mother, Hoo Gallery, Mount Eliza (online)
2024 Inspired by Botany, Hoo Gallery, Mount Eliza
2024 Grand Opening, Hoo Gallery, Mount Eliza
Group Exhibitions
2026 No Place Like Home, Frankston Arts Centre Open Exhibition, Frankston (forthcoming)
2025 All’s Quiet, A.K. Bellinger Gallery, Inverell (online)
2024 Flinders Community Art Show, Flinders
2023 An Exhibition for Ants, Unassigned Gallery, Naarm
2023 Renew, Frankston Arts Centre Open Exhibition, Frankston
2021 Soft Opening, Hoo Gallery, Mount Eliza
Education
2008 Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary)
1995–1997 Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Technology, Auckland University of Technology
1993–1995 Bachelor of Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Awards
1998 Supreme Winner, Pasifika
1998 Urban Pacific Streetwear Award, Pasifika
1997 Anibare Bay Young Designers Award, Pasifika
1997 Selected finalist, National Tour, New Zealand Smokefree Fashion Awards
1987 Silver Medal, Shankar International Children’s Art Competition
Selected: Top 100 New Zealand Up & Comers for the Millennium, Pavement Magazine, 2000
Prior Practice: Fashion Design (New Zealand, 1996–1999)
Selected exhibitions and shows
1999 Un-337476863 Fashion Show, The Club, Auckland
1998 Graduates Fashion Show, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland
1997 Smirnoff International Fashion Awards, Auckland
1997 The Couture to Chaos Fashion Show, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland
Selected press
2000 Pavement magazine, editorial feature
1998 “Patterns On,” Cathrin Schaer, Sunday Star Times
1998 Editorial feature, Viva magazine (New Zealand Herald)
1997 “Balloons and Papa Shells the Vogue at Fashion Awards”, New Zealand Herald
hoogallery.com.au