Falaks Vasa

2026-2027 Faculty Fellow, Teaching and Learning Lab
Critic, Digital + Media

Falaks Vasa (they/she, b. Kolkata) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer with a set of practices that oscillate playfully between transparency, opacity, and il(libglitiey).

As an artist, Falaks’ work spans video, performance, fiber art, 3D animation, and more. Their work has been exhibited internationally, including in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, India, Canada, and the US, and their residencies include ACRE and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. As an educator, she teaches interdisciplinary courses across various departments at RISD and MassArt. Her pedagogy is experimental, grounded in trust, community, and joy, and has been recognized with the Archambault Award for Teaching Excellence by Brown University. As a writer, she explores the relationships between language and the body. Her writing includes a speculative fiction novel, a poetry chapbook, and scripts for spoken word and lecture-performances. Falaks holds an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University (2023), a BFA in Studio Art from SAIC (2018), and lives in Rhode Island with her spouse, cat, ball python, and bin of worms.
 

At RISD, Falaks have taught in various departments including TLAD, D+M, and THAD. Things they love talking about include, but are not limited to: how teaching fits into studio practice; community-building in the classroom; effective lesson planning; collaborative knowledge-production; teaching portfolios;  strategies for encouraging student participation; queer, decolonial, anti-racist, and anti-caste approaches to education; devising innovative assignments; embracing joy in the classroom; adjunct-life; financial planning; chess; vermicomposting.