I am an interdisciplinary artist engaged with a multitude of mediums including writing, film, illustration, photography and printmaking, with my primary focus being animation. I am very interested in the meeting point and interaction of different forms coming together, and I believe that animated films are an effective method of unification wherein we see these forms compliment and work in tandem with one another. Using the tools I have accumulated over the last few years in art making, I create my work in order to express themes of existentialism, dystopia and absurdity that I perceive from observation of the world around me. My intent is to produce urban hellscapes through my films, to reflect the disrepair we find modern society submerged in.

 

Being from Mumbai, India, I have witnessed how a heavily populated and economically divided urbanised city can devastate people through poverty, politics and cultural bias. My work attempts to reflect the embedded violence I see around me, and to find and confront it within myself, through my animated films. While endeavouring to portray these darker and severe observations, humour has remained equally significant not just to my work and my art, but also to my life. The reason why animation draws me so strongly is because of the inherent humoristic qualities that animated works can project. Humour can be unearthed in the bleakest of instances, and can generate both very complex or very simple emotional reactions. I also find it helps to create a sense of balance when tackling serious and depressive ideas and observations. A funny film can create an instantaneous connection with the audience, and I hope to engage the viewers of my films through my own sense of humour by establishing a relatability between the creator and consumer of the work.

 

There is a magical idiosyncrasy to the illusionary mechanics of a series of images that then become an animated sequence. It is also a very malleable medium, which helps me in being more experimental and exploratory in my practice, rather than remaining fixed in a technique or visual language. Growing up in a household of artists, I have always had a lot of support and mentorship from my family, many of whom are animators, filmmakers and writers themselves. I was fortunate enough to also attend a Waldorf school, which further encouraged my interests in art and creative pursuits. This kind of open and free upbringing allowed me to be myself in any circumstance, and to unapologetically explore themes and topics that I feel drawn towards, rather than feel the need to fit into a certain system. I have always strongly believed that my only competition is myself, which is where I find my motivation and desire to keep doing better.