Soft elastic solids, such as elastomers and hydrogels, are used in many practical applications ranging from adhesives to biocompatible scaffolds for tissue engineering. Biological cells and tissues have very similar mechanical properties as those of soft materials. Such solids undergo large deformations and can respond to forces such as interfacial tension, gravity, and residual stresses due to growth by swelling. Understanding how soft solids destabilize to external fields are crucial to avoid failure and aid engineering of materials of targeted geometries and properties, as well as inform us about morphogenesis in soft biomatter. My research focuses on understanding fundamental principles of how joint roles of surface tension, elasticity, gravity interact with geometric length scales of soft solids to exhibit interfacial and bulk pattern formation, as well as drive self-assembly of patterns in soft bio-interfaces. Soft, porous solids also interact with liquids to give rise to interesting self-excitable phenomena. I will discuss my research with a few examples of how patterns and motions are observed in soft elastic solids, with the motivation of learning fundamental principles of deformability of soft materials as well as harnessing them for diverse engineering applications.