In a world rapidly shifting between tradition and modernity, few artists manage to carve a space that speaks so urgently yet poetically to both personal and collective consciousness. Tarini Sethi, a New Delhi-based multimedia artist, is one such voice. Her work unspools narratives of human intimacy, body consciousness, and sexuality—woven delicately with threads of folklore and mythology—to challenge, rethink, and reimagine what it means to inhabit a body in contemporary India.
Sethi’s journey is emblematic of a broader cultural reckoning. Raised in a society where bodies—especially female bodies—are often sites of repression and rigid social codes, she chooses to wield her art as a radical act of emancipation. But her work doesn’t merely protest; it builds new worlds where the body is a vessel of freedom, complexity, and unapologetic self-expression.
Emerging onto the Indian art scene over the past decade, Sethi’s multidisciplinary practice spans paintings, drawings, and metal sculptures. Her exhibitions have graced revered spaces such as the IIC Gallery and Chemould CoLab, and she has been featured in notable platforms like Architectural Digest India and the Mumbai Urban Arts Festival. Yet, the visibility she commands is only a fragment of her impact; her art invites an invitation into a labyrinth of emotions, histories, and identities that ripple beyond gallery walls.
At its core, Sethi’s work interrogates the binaries and boundaries imposed on bodies—human or animal, masculine or feminine, perfect or flawed. Her subjects, often enigmatic hybrid creatures with multiple limbs and anthropomorphic features, inhabit intricate, maze-like environments that echo both inner psychological terrains and external societal structures. In these spaces, figures love, fight, observe, and ponder, evoking a mythopoetic resonance that feels timeless and urgent.
The artist’s choice of multimedia reflects her refusal to be constrained by any single medium, mirroring the very fluidity she explores in her themes. Paintings come alive with dreamlike hues; drawings sketch the intimate nuances of gesture and form; metal sculptures—often shimmering and tactile—bring a tangible, almost ritualistic quality to her exploration of corporeality and mythology.
Sethi’s art cannot be disentangled from the contemporary social and political contexts that shape her worldview. She creates in direct response to a confluence of anxieties: the mounting crises of mental health, the rise of political polarization, the specter of communalism, and the escalating destruction of the natural world. Yet, rather than succumb to despair, her work redefines these harsh realities, imagining alternate realms where hope, resistance, and beauty coexist.
This utopian impulse is particularly striking in the way she treats bodies as perfect vessels—unburdened by conventional notions of gender, beauty, or perfection. In a society where women’s bodies are policed and scrutinized, Sethi offers a radical vision of sexual emancipation and bodily autonomy. Her art becomes a sanctuary where marginalized identities and desires find voice and visibility.
Her influences are as diverse as her practice. Drawing inspiration from Indian artistic traditions such as Kalighat paintings, Mughal Miniature art, Kavad storytelling, and the shadow puppetry of Tholu Bommalata, Sethi situates her contemporary work within a rich cultural tapestry. By reinterpreting these traditions, she bridges the past and present, revealing how ancient narratives continue to pulse with relevance in today’s conversations around identity and freedom.
In interviews, Sethi has spoken candidly about the challenges of being a female artist in India’s male-dominated art scene and the pressures that come with negotiating personal expression within cultural expectations. Yet, she remains steadfast in her commitment to push boundaries—both aesthetic and societal.
What makes Tarini Sethi’s work resonate so deeply is its vulnerability coupled with strength. Her figures don’t shy away from contradictions; they embody them. They are at once human and animal, soft and fierce, bound and liberated. Through her art, Sethi doesn’t simply depict bodies; she enacts a profound exploration of what it means to be alive, visible, and autonomous in a world that often demands conformity.
As the art world and society at large continue grappling with questions of identity, sexuality, and mental health, Sethi’s work stands as a luminous beacon. It is a reminder that art’s true power lies not only in reflection but in transformation—shaping new ways of seeing, feeling, and being.
For anyone following contemporary Indian art or engaged in conversations about feminism, sexuality, and cultural heritage, Tarini Sethi is a figure whose work deserves attention—not just for its striking visual language but for the courageous, hopeful narratives it unfolds.
