Bakula Nayak

With an impassioned curiosity for discovering beauty in the mundane, and a self-taught prowess for line, symbol and narrative composition, Bakula began her journey as an artist in 2013. The cornerstone of her art practice is that of sensitive storytelling. Bakula weaves together her personal histories with those of others by layering ancient and contemporary literature, intercepted letters and once-functional, discarded papers with symbolic renditions of a proactive and reactive mind. While her work on vintage paper is the mainstay of her profound approach to re-contextualizing human experiences, her multiple philosophical expressions branch out diversely in search of an invented visual vocabulary to support them. She explores themes of synergy between the individual and the collective, processes of art- and meaning-making, the experiences of women as well as contemporary cultural and psycho-social situations. In this series of work, she uses vintage blueprints (of factory drawings) to represent the irreverent human construction and manufacturing processes. It addresses the erasure of space and nature in our world. and is a reminder that we need to move from being anthropocentric world to a bio-centric one.

Bakula Nayak completed her undergraduate degree in architecture and an M.S. in Communication Design from Pratt Institute, Manhattan following which she started her art career. Her recent exhibitions include solo shows at India International Centre, New Delhi (2018); Kessaku, Bangalore (2018); Taj Palace, Delhi (2018), India Habitat Center, New Delhi (2017) as well as several group exhibitions, including Vadehra Art Gallery (2021, 2019), The Folly, Chennai (2017); Saptaparni, Hyderabad (2017); Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2016); Kynkyny Art, Bangalore (2016, 2015, 2014, 2013), among others. Bakula lives and works in Pittsburgh, USA, with strong ties to Bangalore, India.