Ahalya Raj

Ahalya Raj

<< Back

Ahalya Raj (b.1997, Punalur, Kollam, Kerala, India) graduated with a BFA in Painting from the Govt. College of Fine Arts in Thrissur, Kerala and an MVA in Painting from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

She has exhibited in several group exhibitions like Lokame Tharavadu – The world is one family curated by Bose Krishnamachari, 2021, The International Kalamela group exhibition, New Delhi, 2018, The Kerala State Exhibition, Darbar Hall, Ernakulam, Kerala, 2021, Art India Company, Himachal Pradesh, 2020, ENCORE Final Display at Govt. College of Fine Arts, Thrissur, Kerala, 2019, and the Kochi Muziris Students Biennale in 2018 and 2021. She has participated in the Sakti Women’s art camp and the Nasreen Mohamedi Scholarship display show, MSU Fine Arts, Baroda, 2019.

The central characters in Ahalya’s artworks are usually those close to her-family, friends and even her pets. She is heavily inspired by the agrarian life she is surrounded by. Drawing is a key facet of all her work and whenever she comes across characters that intrigue her, they manage to find a home in her paintings. Ahalya is a keen observer of the reality around her- animate and inanimate. Often, the objects around her, take her back to childhood memories and her work becomes an amalgamation of her own childhood and the new generation’s narrative. Her work is never purely depictive. She is more interested in creating a new premise through her narratives, so the joy and wonder in her work is constant.

Ahalya lives and works in Kerala, India.