I’m a 26-year-old Visual Designer from India. I was born and raised in a small industrial town called Vapi. Art, science, and music have always been solid passions of mine and I’m constantly trying to merge these worlds with my work.
I graduated in Graphic Design from the National Institute of Design and have been working and exploring various fields within Visual Communication ever since.
A lot of my journey with art and design has been about exploring and expanding the limits of thinking visually. My personal work is a reflection of my introspection and understanding of our relationships with people, spaces and things on a tangible and an intangible level.
I’m currently based in Bangalore. I moved here for a job but fell in love with the city and the freedom and decided to stay. This
city has a lot of creative potential and is booming with artists of all genres, so it’s a great place for collaboration and creation. There is also a great overall work-life balance in this city, which is super important to me. I’ve worked in a bunch of other cities and I feel like the pace of this city is just right, it’s not too fast and not too laid-back.
A lot of my journey with art and design has been about exploring and expanding the limits of thinking visually. My personal work is a reflection of my introspection and understanding of our relationships with people, spaces and things on a tangible and an intangible level.
The best thing about Bangalore is definitely the weather. We are blessed with great weather all year round. I also live for the music scene in the city, we have some great music coming out of here.
Commute and traffic can be a nightmare sometimes but the weather honestly makes up for it.
Liberating | Multi-Faceted | Grounding
I have always been a visual thinker. Picture books, graphic novels, comics and cartoons with their vivid stories, twisted worlds and unusual narratives caught my fancy from a very young age. I think I picked up art to channel my discomfort, imagination, and curiosity about the world into something more concrete and tangible.
As a kid I remember creating my own worlds, weaving stories around these worlds down to the minutest of details, basically having a lot of fun with it haha. I also recall being oddly particular about aesthetics from a very young age, I always had a vision for things and I believed in it strongly, so I think I embraced my quirks pretty early on. Growing up, I looked at artists and creators with a lot of awe, their independence and energy were magnetic. When people are busy creating something that they believe in, they’re hardly ever focused on things that don’t serve them. The indulgence and introspection that came with it, drew me in.
I have always been a visual thinker. Picture books, graphic novels, comics and cartoons with their vivid stories, twisted worlds and unusual narratives caught my fancy from a very young age.
I’m lucky to have parents have always been super supportive. I grew up in an environment where all forms of creativity were held at really high regard. However, since there was very little awareness about the field of design and the opportunities within the industry at the time, there was that slight hesitation at first because it was still considered an “unconventional” career path.
It’s been a process of trust and discovery with my family, but they’ve kept an open mind so I’ve been lucky 🙂
I really want to explore my work on different scales and in unusual contexts. I would love to create something that’s more experiential. I really want it to come to life, maybe also work with live music so I’m trying to figure out ways to do that.
I really want to explore my work on different scales and in unusual contexts. I would love to create something that’s more experiential.
Aaa so many names come to mind. But I would LOVE to work on something with Brain Eno! He’s like a music scientist and his approach to sound is so unique, working with him is a long-standing dream of mine! 🙂
I would also love to work on something with Lily Tomlin. She’s an absolute icon and so so creative with her humour. A collaboration with her would be amazing!
Beautiful, resilient, creatively charged and exhausted from the constant curveballs that come with living in a society that lacks balance and is still figuring itself out.
I really admired the work of my art teacher, Mrs. Subarna Das who was pivotal in helping me explore my creative potential.
She’s a fine artist and the boldness in her work really spoke to me.
Growing up I didn’t have a lot of exposure to local female creatives due to a general lack of awareness and opportunities for females in the country. But design college in that regard, was super inspiring because we had so many talented people to look up to.
Gender disparity, wage gaps, and safety continue to be a problem within the industry especially in corporate environments. Feminism is highly misunderstood at times and there’s still a lot of judgement surrounding work that tends to question dated social structures and norms that exist within our country.
As women, we’re constantly forced to assess the environments that we put ourselves in because unfortunately, safety and security is very much a legitimate concern.
Strong, independent, opinionated women are often misjudged and dismissed as aggressive or dominating, which is honestly sad to see especially when men with the same set of characteristics are glorified and appreciated.
I could go on for a while about these ‘micro-aggressions’ that we tend to face as women. But the fact of the matter is that the conditioning on gender roles in extremely deep-rooted in our society. There’s definitely a wave of change happening in a
positive direction but it is a slow-moving process and there continues to be a lot of push back.
Don’t hesitate to speak your mind and stand in your truth.
Don’t hesitate to speak your mind and stand in your truth. You will always find people that will resonate with your beliefs and your story so don’t worry about fitting in or chasing trends. The more authentic you stay to your true self, the easier it will be to stand up for what you do and find meaningful connections in work and otherwise 🙂
Photos courtesy of Noopur Choksi.
September 25, 2019