Ayushi is a visual artist based in New Delhi whose work reflects a deep, evolving engagement with her inner world. She describes her art as emerging from “dreams or memories that seem to take on a life of their own,” while some ideas begin as “a single thread leading her into unknown creative territory.” Her visual language is marked by surreal compositions, faceless figures, and symbolic motifs like eyes and trees that act as extensions of human presence.
She begins each piece by “writing about the idea at length, letting the thought expand and settle,” then sketches shapes and textures, allowing the process to be “fluid and intuitive.” Over the years, Ayushi’s practice has grown from “raw, intuitive sketches” to more intricate bodies of work, moving between two core ideas: one, a “mythic narration” where a painting becomes a “portal—a specific moment surfacing from memory, dream, or a live experience,” and the other, quieter “interior portals” where rooms and thresholds become metaphors for psychological states.
Themes of transformation, femininity, and introspection recur throughout her practice. She explains that “the fluidity in the characters of my paintings has become the core structure” of her work, where “bodies carry the delicacy of an intimate interaction” and the colors “appear to be in conversation.” Her compositions evoke a mood of stillness and soft power, inviting viewers to enter “a quiet exploration of femininity grounded in introspection and rest.”

Mainaz Bano is a painter based in Lucknow, whose practice draws from the enduring artistic traditions of Awadh while speaking to the complexities of contemporary life. Deeply informed by the visual language of miniature painting, her work exists within a continuum of time—engaging the past, present, and future in a seamless narrative flow.
In Lucknow, once the cultural heart of Awadh, miniature painting flourished under the patronage of figures like Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and Begam Hazrat Mahal. These artworks, rich with Indo-Persian, Indo-British, and Indo-Roman influences, form the aesthetic and philosophical backbone of Mainaz’s practice. But rather than reproducing these historical forms, she transforms them—offering a layered dialogue between heritage and modernity.
Her compositions often juxtapose the grandeur of mythological or historical imagery with the quiet ordinariness of the modern world. Through this contrast, she reflects her own experience of navigating Lucknow’s evolving urban landscape.
Mainaz’s process is as much about storytelling as it is about form. Her paintings are not spontaneous gestures but intentional acts of narration. Her work doesn’t just depict—it converses. It draws the viewer to engage with time, identity, and the persistence of tradition despite its slow erosion.
Each painting she creates is deliberate, grounded in extensive research, and close engagement with libraries and archives. This scholarly approach allows her to revive traditional motifs with new urgency, embedding them in scenes that reflect the textures of contemporary life in a rapidly changing city. In Mainaz’s hands, history is not static—it pulses, stretches, and folds into the present.
By embracing miniature painting as both method and metaphor, Mainaz positions herself within a living tradition—one that honors the intricate past while insisting on its relevance in the now.
She earned her B.V.A. (2009) and M.V.A. (2011) from Lucknow University.

Pranali Powar is a visual artist whose practice is rooted in personal experience, emotional memory and an evolving relationship with colour and form. Pranali Powar’s work draws directly from her lived experiences — moments of reflection, memory, and emotional shifts become the basis of her compositions. “The subject comes from something that has happened in my life,” she says, and these personal events become starting points for her canvas-based explorations. She often begins with an internal image or feeling and then builds the visual composition around it, carefully choosing colours and forms to reflect the emotion or idea.
Her process involves both intuition and structure: she starts with sketches and research, considers colour compatibility, and focuses on the flow of lines and shapes to communicate meaning. Acrylic is her preferred medium, and she works with both transparent and opaque layers to create depth and contrast. Over time, she has grown more attuned to what she calls “intangible art” — work that is not just visually expressive but emotionally resonant.
Born in Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, she began her formal training in art at Lalitkala Mahavidyalaya, where she completed the A.T.D. program. In 2018, after moving to Kolhapur following her marriage, she found new support and encouragement from her family to continue her education. This led her to pursue a J.D. Art degree at Dalvi’s Art Institute, where she began to develop a deeper interest in creative and conceptual art.

Pratulya Chand (b. 1994) is an artist whose work explores the raw inner landscapes of the human condition. Born in Lucknow, with roots in Uttarakhand, his life has been shaped by movement, both geographic and emotional. Leaving home at 17, early experiences of alienation, solitude, and a sense of not belonging became the emotional terrain from which his art would grow.
About half a decade ago, Pratulya began navigating his own way through mediums and techniques through relentless experimentation—“I remember once mixing coconut oil with oil paints because I didn’t know about linseed oil.” Over time, his work grew into two distinct styles: one with oil paints and pastels, where he creates emotional, structured figures caught in a moment of thought and the other with pen drawings, which are more spontaneous and chaotic, filled with surreal shapes and expressive lines.
At the core of his practice is an ongoing attempt to make sense of complex emotional states. “Most of my ideas begin with a feeling—something I observed, absorbed, or quietly carried,” he says. Rather than working from visual recall, he draws from emotional memory, choosing his materials based on how an idea “wants to live.”
Recurring themes of pain, anxiety, and the search for meaning pulse through his work, often through unsettling color choices and distorted figures. Whether working in a limited palette of 5 to 7 jarring hues or drawing crowded, alien dreamscapes in ink, his pieces invite viewers into a deeper confrontation with emotion.
Beyond his studio practice, Pratulya is active in the underground art scene—creating zines, books, and pop-up shows that merge visual art with writing and design, cultivating not just work, but community.

Sruthi Sivakumar is a visual artist whose practice is rooted in an intimate, evolving relationship with nature. Working across mediums like handmade paper, mixed media, and gouache, she finds meaning in the small, often overlooked elements of the natural world—duckweed in a pond, the form of a dead insect, or the quiet transformation of a plant. These become portals into larger questions about life, impermanence, and interdependence.
Her process is layered and tactile, involving the creation of her own paper from recycled materials like plant fibers and even elephant dung. This act of making becomes inseparable from the artwork itself. Sruthi approaches each piece as a quiet inquiry—whether it’s an imagined pond ecosystem or a metaphorical reflection on parasitic plants—inviting viewers to consider how beauty, decay, and coexistence are constantly shaping the environments around and within us.
Originally from Kerala, Sruthi earned her BFA from Raja Ravi Varma College of Fine Arts, Mavelikara, and her MFA from RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Thrippunithura. She has also undertaken a research residency at the Lalithakala Akademi. Her work is driven by exploration, play, and a desire to express the unsaid through the organic language of materials.

Surabhi P, is a sculptor and ceramic artist whose practice emerges from close observation of everyday life. Working primarily with clay and locally available materials, she hand-builds forms that reflect the textures, moods, and quiet rhythms of her surroundings.
Surabhi’s process is rooted in simplicity, influenced by the storytelling of Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, whose writing inspires her pursuit of an unadorned yet deeply detailed visual language. Her sculptures often take the form of relief—part journal, part structure—where subtle contrasts and minimal interventions carry emotional and spatial weight.
Her miniature works map an internal landscape, distilling memory and perception into elemental forms - turning the gaze inward, using sculpture to explore questions of existence, ambiguity, and presence.
Surabhi earned her BFA in Sculpture from the Government College of Fine Arts, Thrissur (2019), and completed her MFA in Design (Ceramic and Glass).