The Open Studio / Ania Kaushik
Ania Kaushik
Kashi
Under the leaves, two old shrines wait with the boats
Two grey shrines, roofs worn soft, each with a dark doorway.
Heart-shaped leaves hang over them like a loose roof.
Someone has left a steel flask and two white bags on the step.
The river is almost the colour of the sky.
Boats rest in it, one name half painted on a hull.
No lamp shows in the arches. Only the leaves move.
The work
Ania Kaushik is from Banaras Hindu University. In Kashi she turns a camera on two small shrines at the water's edge. Worn steps lead past them. A tree hangs its leaves over their pointed roofs. Below, boats wait on pale water. Kaushik usually paints with watercolour and pens. She keeps those works to two to four colours so that line and form can lead. Here she goes further and removes colour. The stone, the leaves and the water stand in shades of grey.
- Theme
- Shrines beside the river
- Material
- Photography
- Year
- 2026
- Edition
- 1 of 10
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Banaras Hindu University
- From
- Ghaziabad
- Code
- RC-429
In the artist’s words
My artistic practice is rooted in my deep connection with Indian culture, heritage, architecture, mythology, and the visual narratives of our ancient epics. I see art as a powerful medium through which stories, traditions, and cultural identities can travel beyond geographical and linguistic boundaries. My aim is to represent the richness and diversity of India to a global audience while presenting it through a contemporary and personal visual language. I work primarily with watercolour, poster colours, micron pens, and colour pens. I consciously prefer a limited colour palette, usually restricting my work to two to four colours. This limitation allows me to focus on composition, line, form, symbolism, and storytelling…
