Sujay Shah’s practice reflects on intermingled cultural ideologies, myths and histories, and questions how we can cope with the colonial pasts that are built into our surroundings. In his recent paintings, Shah deconstructs, satirises and critiques some of the harmful legacies of colonialism through the lens of big game trophy hunting. The presence of certain objects in Kenyan homes, country clubs and safari lodges, such as skin rugs and mounted animal heads, serve as haunting reminders of this violent history. In his fictitious dioramas and still lives, acts of brutality go side by side with luxury items, such as Victorian objects, silverware and candelabras, challenging notions of what it means to be "civilised”. Intertwining horror, humour and surrealism, the exasperated animals are subjected to various states of disrespect, further undermining and trivialising the convoluted nature of these hunts. By referring to aspects of museum display, different moments are merged into a single image, analogous to how the perception and romance of Africa has been fabricated, exoticized and stereotyped: images which still perpetuate and haunt us today.

Shah earned his BFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2013. After graduating, he lived in New York City, where he worked as a studio assistant to artists Paul Bloodgood and Anne Chu - an experience that deeply influenced his early artistic development. Shah has exhibited internationally, with group shows in the United States (Savannah and New York), France, India, and Abu Dhabi. His work is part of the permanent collection at the Savannah College of Art and Design. His group exhibitions in Kenya include Fictions, 2022, Various Small Fires, 2021, and I Will See What I Want to See, 2019, all at Circle Art Gallery, as well as If Not Now, 2018, at the Cave Bureau.In 2022, Shah was awarded the Writers Artists Travel Fellowship (WAFT) to the Venice Bienale by Wangechi Mutu Studio. The following year, he completed a residency at 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust in Kampala. His first solo exhibition, Forgive Us for Our Skins, opened in 2023 at Circle Art Gallery’s new space in Nairobi. In 2024, he held his first museum solo exhibition, The Slant of Thirsting Mouths, at the SCAD Museum of Art in Atlanta. That same year, his work was featured in Imperial Silhouettes at the Rizq Art Initiative in Abu Dhabi. He took part in 1-54 London Contemporary African Art Fair in 2023 and Art Paris in 2024.