Drawing a crowd

Sketching India? Artists have moved past diyas, cows and Holi pichkaris. Here’s how they reflect a changing country. There’s no elephant in the room

- Christalle Fernandes

Srishti Guptaroy, 34, grew up in Kolkata, consuming American movies, music, and pop culture on TV. When she was 16, she noticed that Indian visual culture was levelling up too. Chumbak had eye-popping visuals of autorickshaws, the Taj Mahal, and slogans such as “Mad or what?” on their fridge magnets and mugs. Manish Arora was designing outfits using neon pinks and yellows. Roman letters had a shirorekha on them to look more Indian.

“It was a new kind of Indian cool, and coincided with my formative design years,” recalls Guptaroy. “It's why my art is so eye-catching and colourful.”

Guptaroy’s work, like herself, acknowledges that “some parts of you are sanskari and some parts of you are Western”. She illustrates women who pair T-shirts with bangles and jhumkas. The text includes terms such as Chillxiety (“being highly anxious but super chill about ongoing chaos”).