Artist Statement

I am a bay area artist of South Indian heritage who works primarily with oil paint. I love working with oil since it's patient and unhurried, and that slowness is part of why I make art. It helps me capture moments that feel meaningful to me.

Most of my work begins with memory. Childhood snapshots, faces from my family, places from my life, the small ordinary moments that felt significant even when I couldn't say why. I paint people with South Indian features. Dark brown skin, dark hair. That representation matters to me. When I moved from Indian to the US, a huge part of my life was left behind. I feel like I don't entirely belong in either place. I take inspiration from my past and my present to create work that helps me reclaim my space in my own terms and preserve my stories. I want to help find the joy in existing between spaces and stories, not entirely here nor there but yearning for both.

The paintings I create sits in the huge conversation of representation and belonging in contemporary art. Who gets to be a subject, whose memories are considered worth painting, whose features are rendered in common work? I want to expand the representation to include South Indian bodies and memories as well.

Education

Group Exhibitions

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Awards