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Artist Bio:

Gayathri T. Santhosh (b. 1999) is a visual artist based in Mumbai, India. She completed her BVA in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (2022) and her MFA in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan (2024).

Her practice investigates collective memory, mortality, and the recurring nature of humanitarian crises, drawing connections between historical and contemporary experiences of disease, displacement, and loss. Working primarily with watercolour and embroidery, she combines archival materials, maps, photographs, and testimonies to create layered narratives that examine memory, resilience, and the cyclical patterns of human history.

Artist Statement:

My practice explores collective memory, mortality, and the cyclical nature of humanitarian crises. Emerging from experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, my work reflects on how moments of fear, displacement, loss, and uncertainty become embedded within social memory. The large-scale migration witnessed during the lockdown, alongside the emotional and psychological impact of isolation, revealed the fragility of human life and the recurring patterns through which societies respond to crisis.

Through a comparative study of the Bombay Plague of 1896, the Calcutta Plague of 1898, and the COVID-19 pandemic, I investigate how histories of disease, displacement, and survival continue to resonate across time. By juxtaposing archival materials—including maps, photographs, documents, and personal testimonies—with contemporary imagery, I construct layered narratives that blur distinctions between past and present.

Working primarily with watercolour and embroidery, I employ stitching as a metaphorical act of marking, mending, and remembrance. The repetitive gesture of embroidery becomes a trace of lives lost, reflecting both the intimacy of grief and the unpredictability of mortality. Through these processes, I examine whether society truly progresses through historical crises or continues to repeat familiar patterns in new contexts, inviting reflection on memory, resilience, and collective human experience.