Ralph Kiggell studied Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and lived in China and Hong Kong through the 1980s.
In 1990, he moved to Japan where he spent eight years in Tokyo and Kyoto studying and practicing the Japanese method of water-based woodblock printing, receiving a Mombusho scholarship to study at Tama Arts University, Tokyo (1995–1999), and graduating with an MFA.
For the last 15 years, Kiggell has been based in Bangkok, Thailand, working as a studio-based artist and part-time lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, with residencies including Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China (2004), MiLab, Kawaguchiko, Japan (2012) and Papworth Cardiothoracic Hospital, Cambridge (2013).
Recent exhibitions include a solo at Gallery Ami, Osaka (2014), and a group exhibition at Gallery Saoh-Tomos, Tokyo (2014). His collaboration with the Old Stile Press, ‘The Third Thing’, a book about water in its various aspects, won the Limited Edition and Fine Binding Award at the British Book Design and Production Awards, 2014. His books and prints are included in several international collections, including American Library of Congress and the British Library. Kiggell writes occasionally for ‘Printmaking Today’.
