Purvai Rai (b. 1994) is a Delhi-based graphic and textile designer and multimedia artist. Rai completed her Bachelor’s degree from Srishti Institute for Art, Design and Technology, Bengaluru (2017). Rai’s works have been exhibited widely at Delhi Contemporary Art Week, Bikaner House, New Delhi (2022), Riyas curated by Ina Puri, Inam Gallery (Bikaner House), New Delhi (2022), Woman is as woman does curated by Nancy Adajania, JNAF, Mumbai (2022), Fleeting Expressions, Gallery Espace, New Delhi (2022), Lines (by) Lines curated by Manmeet K Walia, at Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi (2022), and India Art Fair, New Delhi (2022) among others.

Rai’s delicate graphite and ink drawings on rice paper are conceived in response to social and political events, specifically those caused by religious and cultural discord. Distilled into an abstract visual language consisting of circles and elliptical patterns, Rai’s work alludes and (re-)presents the precariousness of existing on the margins. The artist also works with natural materials like jute, cotton, and yarn and is particularly interested in the tactility of these natural fabrics, and how in the recesses of its weaves reside familial and generational memory.

Works available here.

Represented by Gallery Espace

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