We were lucky to catch up with Anoushka Bhalla recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Anoushka thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

My path to becoming an artist wasn’t some big “aha” moment but more like a slow realization that hit me after dealing with a ton of stress and figuring out what really makes me tick. I’ve always loved the arts, even as a kid, I was interested in history, art history, and literature.

I started out in med school, thinking I’d be a surgeon, but the stress, the long hours, the constant burnout and the fact that every day became an uphill battle eventually made me rethink everything. So, I switched gears to literature, because my heart was always in it. But life had other plans when I lucked into getting accepted into India’s top art school.

Reflecting on my childhood, I’ve always had a profound interest in art, culture, and literature. These early influences provided a foundation for my appreciation of the arts and a deeper understanding of the historical contexts that shape creative expression. So the decision to transition to art school felt like a natural progression, aligning with a lifelong passion that had been quietly nurtured over the years.

There wasn’t a lightbulb moment where I thought, “I’m gonna be an artist!” It was more like a bunch of experiences and realizations adding up over time. The whole experience has taught me the importance of trusting your instincts, cultivating your interests to the point where you can pursue them for a lifetime, and seizing unexpected opportunities as they arise. And honestly, the best plans are the unplanned ones.

Anoushka, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Well, I am a visual artist residing in New York City. Although I’ve always engaged with various mediums, including sculptures, drawings and paintings, lately, my focus has shifted towards multi-media painting, where I utilize materials like shellac, ash, oil, acrylic, and terracotta to create my works. Starting out as a sculptor a few years ago, my practice has now graduated to painting, albeit with more of a sculptural bent. The paintings are such heavy impasto, that they could be mistaken for reliefs.

My practice definitely has conceptual and socio-political leanings and often vacillates between the abstract and the representational. In my works, I frequently reference historical archives documenting significant moments in our global political past, challenging notions of collective memory and confronting the impact of destruction- which is why I often use symbolically-charged elements so heavily in my works- like terracotta, coal and ash. I like to think my practice is research-based, with the research sourced around archival photojournalism and aims at recovering the legacies of those who have long been forgotten as collateral damage.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Of course! This is something I touched upon in the previous question. My goal is to shed light on marginalized narratives and ensure the enduring remembrance of overlooked histories, starting from my birthplace of India to the South-Asian subcontinent, and even globally. My creative journey as an artist, or even as an appreciator of the arts and literature is propelled by an existential exploration into conflict, strife and the profound capacities and vulnerabilities of the human body. Additionally, I am motivated to foster a dialogue, one that begins among artists and writers, within the realms of academia, and eventually extends to a broader audience. As I mentioned, my objective is to illuminate marginalized narratives and guarantee the lasting remembrance of neglected histories.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your artistic practice?

While I cannot pinpoint any specific books that have directly shaped my career, I can undoubtedly attribute a significant influence to various books, authors, poets, and filmmakers who have played a crucial role in shaping my artistic practice. This, in turn, has contributed to the evolution of my career trajectory. Some of the authors I’ve often read for my work, and otherwise are Judith Herman, Mark Fisher, Paul Celan, Osamu Dazai, Garcia Marquez, Kafka and Solzhenitsyn. I do remember, at the absolute beginning of my practice, being interested in thinkers such as Heidegger, Arendt, Sarte and Cioran, although I only read some of them now.

Beyond literature, my practice has also been enhanced by the inspiration drawn from numerous artists, of course. Although the list is extensive and I doubt I would have the time or space to list all of them, some particularly influential figures include Anselm Kiefer, Anish Kapoor, Rashid Johnson, Zhang Huan, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Marlene Dumas, Frank Auerbach, Hermann Nitsch, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Kathe Kollwitz, and Alberto Burri, and lately Adrian Ghenie and Gerhard Richter to name a few.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.anoushkabhalla.com
• Instagram: anoushkabhalla.studio