The Gateway - to the Gulf Painting

Ankita began her professional career as an educator of English in 2005. With a Master of Philosophy in English, Diasporic Studies, she has a decade-long experience teaching across three different countries. Art happened to her in 2013, after which she acquired a Diploma in Western Art from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. Managing simultaneous careers, she was motivated to pursue the arts, translating her observations and enquiries into narrative oil paintings, charcoal and mixed media art pieces. She has exhibited in Singapore as well as abroad and continues to work on commission. Her artworks are in private collections in Singapore, India, Dubai, Philippines and the United States. Her interest in learning more about art’s impact on society led her to pursue a Masters in Asian Art Histories from the Lasalle College of Arts, Singapore. Her academic study revolved around the representation of trauma in Indian contemporary art. Ankita’s artistic style has undergone several changes and corrections over the years and continues to evolve even now. She began with still life painting and figurative art, moving gradually to conceptual art. She has explored abstraction as well as representational art. Her concerns in the beginning were always precision and specification of form and shape. However, with time, her style has become more impressionistic and her form more interpretive. She has keenly adopted the fluidity and flexibility of shape and finds controlled mess more attractive. Despite the changes in style, her focus, as always, remains storytelling and her intentions are to evoke strong life emotions through her depictions. Her art practice stems from her observations of everyday life and surroundings, narrating stories from her experiences, aiming at affirmations and positive realizations. Her art wishes to stir introspections and discover unfound happiness. Art, according to her, has extreme healing powers and hence positive depictions are what she looks to create.