As an artist, I am primarily concerned with themes of perception, memory, and identity. I am fascinated by the idea of perception and its connection to the materiality of paint, photography, and other analogue mediums such as film. Inspired by John Bergers’ “Ways of Seeing,” I have been intrigued by how people perceive paintings and their surrounding contexts. These methods engage with feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality, whilst also being used in a contemporary context. This juxtaposition allows for creativity in how I portray subjects and the variety of refinement within my paintings. I’m interested in how paint can be applied to a canvas, to create figures that aren’t fully rendered and how that can relate to photography. What can paint do that a photograph can’t? And why, in this day of modern technology, are people making paintings from photographic references? My work can be quite gestural in how the paint is applied to the canvas, but it would never describe itself as abstract. My practice is heavily figure-based.

My creative practice informs my work as the physical nature of exploring the medium of paint and photography guides where the pieces will go. I am venturing further into ideas of identity in my practice, by exploring culture, and its significance in my work. As a British Asian of Indian descent, I have been very interested in exploring what culture means to me and how it presents itself in my life. Working on this is something that my ongoing practice is recently tackling, and will hopefully come forward in the new exhibition, “Magpie," where I am expanding my artistic skillset away from the canvas and working with metal, specifically Copper.

I aim to make work that evokes a notion of nostalgia through the importance of documentation. My practice has a diaristic approach, and this provides a continuous flow to my work. A large part of the way I work is keeping a visual memory of my day-to-day life. This can vary from photographs, audio clips, or drawings. Either way, they provide an ongoing current in my work, as it keeps me inspired. These drawings often turn into paintings or can be used further along in my practice, or simply act as a diary that I can recall memories from in years to come.