From the ghats of Prayagraj to a Dubai art room.

I grew up drawing in the margins of everything. The University of Allahabad gave that instinct a name — Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2016. Four years later I finished my Master of Fine Arts at Aligarh Muslim University, and the world of formal studio practice opened wide.

My work moves between mediums the way my week does. Acrylic florals and oil portraits fill the studio. Watercolour, ink and graphite fill the sketchbook. And every school day, I trade the palette for a whiteboard — first in Prayagraj, and since August 2024 as primary art teacher at Al Sadiq Islamic English School in Al Qusais, Dubai.

Teaching is not the opposite of practice — it's a second studio. Watching a six-year-old commit to a colour choice sharpens my own eye. Building a curriculum forces me to name what I've been doing on instinct. Organising a student exhibition of over a hundred works is its own kind of composition.