Nandini (they/them) is an artist, illustrator and an activist based out of Kolkata, India. They consider themselves a visual storyteller and they tell stories of the interiority of queerness, queer homes, imagined queer histories and feminist food histories from their geographical context. As an artist , they work with a wide variety of mediums, including digital, traditional mediums like oil and acrylics, embroidery, sculpture and murals. They have a very unique visual language characterised by bright colours, lush backgrounds and fabric patterns from Bengal. Their visual style also reflects their intersectional feminist ideas which is informed by their years of working in feminist movements. Their work imagines power and resistance in historically marginalised communities.
They are a Co founder and former Co director of Amra Odbhut, a queer art collective based out of Kolkata. They were instrumental in curating over thirty queer performances and art exhibits over a period of six years.They have also co conceptualised and Co executed the South Asian queer history archiving project supported by Prince Klaus Fund. You can find the project on https://www.imaginingutopias.com/. They also painted and executed a hundred feet mural celebrating the transman community in Kolkata making it one of the first murals celebrating the transmasculine community in South Asia. As an ambassador of Fearless Collective, they co painted a mural at the UN Climate Change Conference. They also painted a mural imagining a decolonized history of mental health in South Asia at the museum of mental health in Chennai.
They recently exhibited their work at India Habitat Center in Delhi, Ort Gallery in Birmingham, Autograph ABP, London. They have also guest lectured at University of Wolverhampton.
They have worked with various social justice organisations around the world including Frida Fund, UAF Africa, Oxfam and EqualityFund as an illustrator and designer. Their work was also featured at the Women's pavilion at UN COP 28.