This painting was made on a single sheet of cold-pressed cotton paper in watercolours. I am drawn to watercolours for the balance between fluidity and permanence of each brushstroke. I perceive my paintings as having a will of their own, and water as a companion to my brush that always finds a way to surprise me.
I am a Schmidt Science Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology moonlighting as a watercolour artist. My paintings explore the dialogue between the changing landscape around me and the inner landscape of my experiences and identities. With pigments and textures encoding memories of spaces traversed, my work echoes a growing sense of nostalgia.
I am a self-taught artist, and my learning is driven by inspiration and curiosity. As a child, I learned to express myself in the language of colours even before I became fluent in the spoken word. In the pursuit of capturing a moment in the most visceral form, I intuitively learn the artistic techniques to express myself as I experience it.
A passion for painting instilled a sense of discipline in me since an early age. I used to spend months getting my brush strokes just right. Later on, I experienced a similar joy in the language of mathematics, and the perspective it lent for understanding the physical world, eventually leading me to pursue a career in science.
As a child, I grew up in a constantly changing landscape and I have called over twenty postal addresses across two continents my `home'. My words flow piecemeal in four different scripts, and I am an artist and a scientist in shifts. With thousand-mile commutes to loved ones, indeed, my heart is in so many places all at once!
And yet, I feel at home as long as I walk with my pitaari (basket) filled with moments and memories that touched me.
To me, fabric is the canvas of everyday life- the taana-baana that absorbs context and holds memory of a person, of a place, of a season, and of generations.
ताना बाना रोजाना का, ज़माने का, ज़िंदगानी का। The weaves, the warp and weft, of the everyday, of the times, of living.
“Taana Baana” is a tapestry of moments touched: the embrace of a woollen Kullu shawl, the melodious swirls of batik, the weaves of khaadi that mark the silhouette of my father, the pearls on a lilac bed passed from my grandma, to my ma, to me.