Varunika Saraf references a range of historical worldviews, mythologies and art histories as a means to navigate today’s political and social situations. Her works examine contemporary realities of marginalisation, social injustice and proliferating violence, particularly in response to recent events in India.

The process of making her own colours is an important part of Saraf’s works. She creates pigments and develops watercolours from specially sourced materials, meticulously crafting colours that reflect her feeling towards the subject she paints. Her series ‘Caput Mortuum’ — including It rained this winter 2020 and The sky set ablaze 2020, which comment on brutal acts of violence in India — is named after the works’ synthetic iron-oxide pigment that resembles dried blood.

Thieves in the forest 2024 sees Saraf focus her attention on the threat of environmental extraction, alluding to broader issues of politicised violence and social complacency. The painting captures a lush forest inhabited by creatures, spirits and mythological figures. Armed officers, land surveyors, flag bearers and gangs carrying political placards encroach on the perimeter of the forest, threatening anything in their way. Saraf seeks to uncover the social and political systems that perpetuate violence toward nature, and the cultural damage that occurs in their wake.