The Legacy of Hema Upadhyay

Hema Upadhyay was born in Baroda in 1972. She earned her BFA and MFA from the University of Baroda and soon came to become one of the most recognised artists in the Indian Contemporary Art scene.

It becomes clear that migrants are often the locus of her pieces. They can be found climbing and walking in the huge expanse of the urban spaces.

Hema Upadhyay Artist Style

It provokes the viewer to think by asking questions about the definitions of utopia and dystopia and how they might seep into each other, about what it means to accommodate worlds that threaten to cancel each other out.

Dream a Wish, Wish a Dream

It consisted of 2000 tiny carefully crafted cockroaches that took over an art gallery in Australia. Her distinctive materials, subjects and the way she utilised spaces became hallmarks of her art practice.

The Nymph and the Adult

The installation succeeds in evoking a cramped feeling and is highly sensorial. Through the use of materials such as sharp metallic objects, she has alluded to the dangerous elements of inhabiting a slum.

8’ X 12’