BIO
Deepa Jayaraman is an Indian visual artist based in New Delhi, working across drawing, painting, and animation. Her practice is rooted in spontaneous, freehand drawing, an uneasy loop circling between fact and fiction, satirical and unreal in appearance, yet to her, absolutely real. She draws through layers of graphic lines, using black as a kind of black noise , a noise without sound, absorbing the surrounding drama, to see through the veneers of idealism to the reality beneath, engaging both the palpable politics and the poetic undercurrents of the world around her.
She received the 100 Artists Swiss Culture Grant, hosted by Artlink in partnership with SüdKulturFonds (2022), and was Cover and Feature Artist for AGNI Literary Journal, Issue 93, Boston University's U.S. literary journal for fiction, poetry and essays, also contributing to the same issue (2021). Her drawing Ascending Sparks was featured in AGNI Literary Journal, Issue 96 (2022). She received the Five Million Incidents Grant, Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, in collaboration with Raqs Media Collective (2019–2020).
Her work has been part of several notably curated presentations: An Instigators' Handbook for Play, Friendship, Generosity, and Autonomy (video section), Alice Yard | Kochi Biennale Foundation, India (2025); As Tranquil as Can Be, Raqs Media Collective | Scores in Transit, curated by Vidya Shivadas, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, India (2025); and OUTSIDE: IN- A Series of Vignettes by Raw Mango, curated by Sneha Khanwalkar (2020), among others.
She is a Gold Medalist with distinction in M.F.A. (2011) and B.F.A. (2009), College of Art, University of Delhi, and recipient of the Sailoz Mukherjee Award for artistic excellence.
CV
Deepa Jayaraman
Based: New Delhi, India.
Email: deepaj10@gmail.com
GRANTS
• Recipient, '100 Artists' Grant, hosted by Artlink Swiss in partnership with SüdKulturFonds, 2022.
• Recipient, Project Grant 'Five Million Incidents', Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, in collaboration with Raqs Media Collective, 2019–2020.
SELECTED ENGAGEMENTS
• Artist Virtual Studio Visit, Caribbean Digital Virtual Artists Residency Programme, in partnership with Alice Yard and supported by the Mellon Foundation, Yale University, 2024.
• 'Ascending Sparks' (drawing), invited contribution among a cohort of artists for AGNI Literary Journal, Issue 96, published by Boston University, 2022.
• Cover Illustration Project, Wench Film Festival — India's first film festival showcasing films by women filmmakers, inclusive of BIWOC, LGBTQ+ women, and non-binary people, 2021.
PUBLICATION
• Cover and Feature Artist, 'Pincushion Anatomy' (Essay), AGNI Literary Journal, Issue 93, published by Boston University, 2021.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
• An Instigators' Handbook for Play, Friendship, Generosity, and Autonomy, curated screening (video), Alice Yard | Kochi Biennale Foundation, India, 2025.
• As Tranquil as Can Be, Raqs Media Collective | Scores in Transit, curated by Vidya Shivadas, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, India, 2025.
• 'Resonance' (short live video), presented at OUTSIDE: IN- A Series of Vignettes by Raw Mango, curated by Sneha Khanwalkar, 2020.
• Framed Feline, Art Houz India, Chennai, India, 2016.
• Books Meet Art, Art Centrix Space, Delhi, India, 2016.
• Vama III, All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Govt. of NCT Delhi, 2016.
• Line LOC — of Control, Birla Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India, 2016.
• Go Tell It On The Mountain, Balgandharva Kaladalan, Pune Biennale, Mumbai, India, 2015.
• Vama II, Indira Gandhi National Art Centre, Twin Gallery, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Govt. of NCT Delhi, 2015.
• 'Valley of Flowers', six frame story illustrations for Pratham Books publication, Bangalore, India, 2015.
• Artszia Art Gallery, Hauz Khas Village, Delhi, India, 2014.
• Rare Act of Political Engagement, Art Konsult, New Delhi, India, 2013.
• Vama, Indira Gandhi National Art Centre, Twin Gallery, New Delhi, in collaboration with Sahitya Kala Parishad, Govt. of NCT Delhi, 2013.
• 'Prologue to Unreal', Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India -with PANCHKONE (group founder member), 2012.
• 'Semblance', Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India - with PANCHKONE (group founder member), 2012.
• Annual Art Exhibition, College of Art, New Delhi, India, 2009–2011.
• Painting Workshop & Exhibition, All India Fine Arts Institute, Amritsar, Punjab, India, 2010.
• Delhi Movement, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India, 2010.
• Winner, Illustration/Annual Illustrated Calendar & Diary, Delhi Tourism, Govt. of NCT Delhi, India, 2008.
• Annual Art Exhibition, College of Art, New Delhi, India, 2006–2008.
REVIEWS / ARTICLES
• “Manifesting Sideways,” Plural Features, on the blog Five Million Incidents, February 3, 2021.
• Review of artworks, “From Facebook” column, art & deal Magazine, Issue 47, Vol. 8, No. 17, March–April 2012.
• “Sparsely Coloured yet Densely Populated Narrative,” Pratham Books, February 24, 2015.
• M.L. Johny, “Painted, Sensitive and Unafraid,” The Art Daily, May 6, 2013.
• “Through Her Eyes,” The Asian Age, April 11, 2013.
• “Not Dented but Painted,” Hindustan Times, April 12, 2013.
• “A Fusion of Five Artistic Styles,” Hindustan Times (Panchkone), November 18, 2012.
WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
• The Times of India Collection, 2010.
• College of Art, Delhi Collection, 2009.
• Private collections, 2009–2011, 2013, 2018–2020, 2022–2025.
EDUCATION
• Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.), Painting - College of Art, Delhi University, New Delhi, India, 2009–2011. Gold Medalist with Distinction.
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Painting - College of Art, Delhi University, New Delhi, India, 2005–2009. Gold Medalist with Distinction.