When I was 10, I took acrylic paints, sat in my Midwestern backyard and covered my skin. I enveloped my legs in the paisley pattern of the salwar I was to wear to an auntie’s shadi the following week. My entire face mimicked the lattice structure that held ivy to my Opa’s 400-year-old house on the Danube I had explored over summer vacation. Lastly, my arms became like the giant oak trees I sat facing.
Since that time, the act of creating for me remains an immersive process, exploring the world around me while also discovering new imaginings that my experiences spark. Today, my art involves assiduous trial and error in various painting, drawing and photography media in my Jersey City, NJ based studio.
From growing up as a bi-racial child of immigrants, inspired by my Indian and Austrian heritage, to my work and studies around transportation and urban planning, enchanted by the people and infrastructure that make a city hum — the act of creating is still where the unknown and curious “what if” blends with the myriad of self-reflective lenses that define my identity.
