'Love, to India'

Born in Dehli, 2004, Left Dehli for Ontario, 2005; Punjabi by blood, heart and soul.

I returned to India two different times in 2023 for the first time in 14 years. It was one of my life’s most enriching sensory experiences. The sounds, the colours, the clothes the people, the smells. Even once I got home and unpacked, the smell of Indian detergent lingered on my clothes. When I first unzipped my suitcase, it hit me in a rush.

A whiff something warm. Spiced, perhaps a little smokey- of India.

I’m convinced there’s not a smell in the world exactly like it- a suitcase dipped in ‘India.’ But if I could, I’d bottle it and keep it by my nightstand forever.

My work is a love letter to both India’s pretty, and her ugly.

Explore the collection

Rajasthani Royal

Digital painting, Procreate

Wedding Night

Acrylic on canvas, 20" x 30"

Merchant

Oil on canvas, 20" x 30"

Golden Bride

Private comission, acrylic on canvas, 18" x24

Yellow Dupatta

Acrylic on raw canvas, multi-media, collage, powdered pigment, 2' x 3'

DIWALI X OCADU

Diwali spent away from India is such an interesting thing to experience for an Indian, or a Hindu abroad.
My mom always spoke about it, the loneliness coupled with trying to celebrate an Eastern holiday here in the cold West, but I don't think I ever really understood it until I witnessed the celebrations in full glory, in India. What happens here is simply a sneeze in comparison to the fever that encompasses India during Diwali, and once you've witnessed that... It's almost impossible to be satisfied here, or so I've found.

But it's all about finding your community, wherever you are. A place that makes you feel included, recognized, and appreciated. Most importantly, that makes you feel seen.

OCADU’s South Asian Society, Dance Team, and Hindu Student Society have made great efforts to make me, and students just like me feel part of family away from family; an amazing community of people I am so grateful to be part of.

I wanted to contribute to these efforts somehow, so with South Asian pride in mind, I designed a collection of stickers that I distributed at OCADU’s Annual Diwali Party, and handed them out to a big variety of students. Below are these designs, drawn with care, love, and plenty of colour, done on Procreate.

These stickers will be available for sale on this website soon, but until then, I will have an event in association with the OCADU’s South Asian Student Society on December 7th (2023) from 3-7PM at OCADU.

Hope to see you there. : )
Love always,

Kyra