Hema Shironi Joseph (b. 1991) is an artist who lives in Colombo. Her artistic practice combines embroidery, mythological imagery, bricolage, and installation to inquire into concepts of cultural identity. Her work is deeply rooted in the histories of colonization, civil war, displacement and migration, as they intersect with her personal life. Driven by nostalgia for the numerous places she has called home, her work explores how communities belonging to these places grapple with concerns of language, culture, memory, myth, gender, and equality. She completed her BFA (2014) from the Ramanathan Fine Arts Academy, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka and an MFA (2019) at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. Her work has been featured at the Critical Zones conceived by ZKM, Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe (2022), Colomboscope (2019 and 2022), Matara Art Festival (2023) and the 13th Taipei Biennial. Hema has also completed an Artist Residency at the House of Kal, Sri Lanka (2021).