Nirupama Sibal

Nirupama was born in India and has travelled the world. Living in Dubai for the past 25 years she has been heavily influenced by her own and the multiple cultures she has interacted with. Growing up, her cousin who was a textile designer was her inspiration.

She says, “Just as the cactus plant has the ability to survive in the harshest of environment and produce the most beautiful of flowers so also my painting reflects life challenges that I have overcome and evolved to be the person I am. My work compares the beauty of life with my trials and reflects on my emotional and spiritual development through these experiences. Experiences that I have embraced as learning towards my growth as a person. Discovering insights about myself, and increasing my sense of well-being allows me to focus on my inner-experience.

The question; who am I has always plagued me. Not in the sense of being somebody’s daughter, wife, mother etc. but really looking within myself. My work is a visual diary of my life. It is a journey of self-discovery and self-healing. Thus, the theme ‘Looking within’ was conceived. Taking the tread from Mikhail Bakhtin, “A person has no internal sovereign territory, he is wholly and always on the boundary: looking inside himself, he looks into the eyes of another or with the eyes of another”. I too look for what the viewer see’s in my work. How does the viewer connect and what interpretation does the viewer make of the symbolism within my work?

Nirupama holds an MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and has participated in various exhibitions around Dubai. Her current thesis is based on expressionist self-portraiture where she is commenting on life, her attitude and learning through her experiences.

Follow her on Instagram @artwithns