1981 | Hyderabad

Varunika Saraf is an artist and art historian whose work navigates contemporary political and social realities through layered, textile-informed painting. Her ongoing Jugni series reimagines Russian embroidered icons of the Madonna to celebrate rebellious women as symbols of resilience and resistance. Using watercolours embellished with thread, crystals, seed pearls, and gota (metallic woven fabric), Saraf transforms devotional iconography into a powerful feminist narrative.
Saraf’s practice blurs the boundaries between craft and fine art, drawing from South Asian visual traditions to create poignant reflections on beauty, protest, and transformation. Her intricate surfaces and iconographic language elevate the everyday into the symbolic, asserting women’s voices within historical and sacred forms.

Saraf’s exhibitions include solo shows such as Caput Mortuum (2021) at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, and participation in prestigious international events like the Sharjah Biennale (2023), Art Basel (Basel and Hong Kong), and exhibitions at SOAS, London and in Australia. Her work resonates with collectors and institutions, reflecting the complex interplay between culture, history, and societal change. She has received the Amol Vadehra Art Grant (2016) and was the Summer Research Fellow at the Getty Research Institute, Visiting Fellow at Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence, NTICVA Visiting Fellow at the V&A Museum and the CWIT fellow at the CSAS, University of Cambridge.

Her prints are deeply personal yet collective, reflecting on women’s experiences across different life stages, and on existential questions around purpose and belonging. Showed with SAC Art Amsterdam for Group Exhibition, ‘My Veins Don’t End in Me’ from 16.05.2025 — 20.09.2025.

CV